Week 4 Reflection

Social Bookmarking and Defining Instructional Technology

      When I briefly looked over the plan for this week and saw social bookmarking I was completely pessimistic. I had very little prior knowledge to go on besides what I knew of bookmarking on my personal computer, and I thought it was going to be a pointless tool. As I watched the videos and learned more I quickly became more optimistic about this tool. I played around with it for a long time, it was a little addicting for me. I kept thinking of websites to pin. I love Pinterest, so this has a similar feel in the sense that it is all in one place and easy to access. I think the biggest value I see in this tool is sharing this with my colleagues. There are so many wonderful websites out there and parents are always asking me for good websites to use. It's like my personal storehouse of websites, but the best part is that I can share them with other teachers and they can add  websites as well.

     I mention this a lot, but I teach virtually. This means that communication with my families and also my colleagues is very important. You have to remember that I can't just pop my head into the Kindergarten room next to me and talk to the teacher and we only get so many opportunities to be all together at one time to collaborate. So, I see where this can be very useful. I already started talking to one of the other Kindergarten teachers about using this.  I really focused on websites that I could use for my students and tie into our curriculum. 

     I could also use this to share with parents, but I could use it more effectively with colleagues. I can post some of these websites to my Wiki and add the most relevant ones to our curriculum and what we are learning and remove them as we go throughout the year. This way it won't feel overwhelming for parents. You can check out what I have been working on and pinning here: https://delicious.com/kiparsons

     For the Trends & Issues reading, I was pretty intrigued to see where the definitions of Instructional Technology started and how far it has come. I had never put much thought into the definition of it, or thought of it separate from just teaching. I thought of it more of an extension of what we already do as teachers. The early definition that talked about instructional technology as the production of "visual aids" aligns more with what I used to think it was. As I read through more of the definitions I gained a better understanding of what instructional technology is. It is so much more! It's the process and systematic design of instruction. This aligns more with what I do now as a virtual teacher. The way my lessons are created and technology that is involved in it is very different from my lesson planning and preparation when I worked in a brick and mortar school. I think that's why I was so intrigued with these definitions. Most of this information was pretty new to me just because I never really knew a lot about this career. Like I previously stated I thought of it more as just an extension of what most of us do as teachers. I can't say that I feel like something is missing, only because I have such an early understanding of what instructional technology is.

Creating a Wiki

 Week 3 Reflection

Web 1.0 vs. Web 2.0 and Wikis

     This assignment this week was the most challenging and definitely the most time consuming for me so far. I know this reflection is supposed to be more about the wiki but something has to be said about that article. It was so confusing. It took me a very long time to find a section that I felt like I actually understood and do it justice summarizing it.  I re-read that article many times and I felt like it was speaking a different language that I certainly did not understand.I am not even sure if what I did was really what Dr. Horvits was looking for.
    Moving on to the wiki. It was not that hard to set up but I had to play around a little bit. Especially when I created a new page within the wiki.  Wikis are not new to me. The school district I used to work for had a Wiki page for all the elementary teachers. It was a place where we could access resources and certain teachers or administrators who were in leadership positions could add to it. Also, one of my former colleagues talked about a class Wiki he set up for his 5th grade students. He often shared how he was using it for different projects. The students really got into it and I believe they were at a good age where they could handle it.
      This is the challenge I am constantly running into as we are trying these new things out. How can a Kindergartener use a Wiki? I know they can't do it independently so it would be a matter of getting parents involved, which let's be honest, can be difficult at times. It's one thing to get the students involved and excited it's another when you have to rely on the parents to help them. I am not giving up on the Wiki just yet. I do see some potential, but again, it involves the parents.
   Here is my big idea for my Wiki. It's much like my idea for my blog, but it seems more practical to use it in a Wiki format. I want to set it up as a place for resources for parents. But the wonderful thing about the Wiki is that it does not have to just be resources from me. It can be resources from other parents too. It can be a great way to connect parents and use their skills and ideas too. I am actually very excited about this. I teach virtually and we are always trying to find a way to get connected. This would be a great way for me to be able to help parents, but also parents helping eachother out too. They work so closely with their students and curriculum that they are learning tips tricks and techniques too. They also may have resources they have found to be helpful and can add them to the Wiki.
   So far, the Wiki looks like it will be the most useful and helpful to my families compared to the RSS Feed and the Blog, at least for me.  I already started playing around with this idea and created a resources page on my Wikis main page. It's a very small start but I wanted to learn how to link a new page and add files. So check out my Wiki if you want to see what I started. parsonsclassconnection.pbworks.com 

RSS Reader, Blogs, Dale's Cone of Experiences, and "imaginitive" uses... Oh My!

Week 2 Reflection

Blogs, RSS Readers and Article Reflection

Edgar Dale (1969)
Martin Siegel (2003)
 

So far I am impressed with the RSS Reader. I had never heard of them prior to this week. How long have they been around? Because I see where they are useful and a time saver. At first I was nervous, I wasn't sure what to think of it. I think I will start to like it the more I use it. The same goes for this blog. I have read lots of wonderful bogs and I am completely underwhelmed with the appearance and lack of content of my blog. I also left wondering; who wants to read this? I have read some really wonderful blogs done by very talented writers, and I do not put myself anywhere near that category of a talented writer. It is a lot like a journal, but I think I would rather keep my journal private.

As far as which part of Dale’s Cone of Experiences these technology tools fall into for a learner, I would say the “iconic experiences-learning through observation”.  Especially with the RSS Reader there is not a lot of  participation involved.  “These materials (study trips, exhibits, motion pictures, television, radio and recordings, and still pictures) provide experiences in which the student is an observer rather than a doer".  Both the blog and RRS Reader supply information easily with videos, pictures and text, but there is not a hands on experience with them

 For me it's easier to think about an "imaginative" use for the blog first. I teacher virtually and one thing I have to constantly be on top of is communicating with the Learning Coaches of my students. I often spend a lot of time sending out mass e-mails and responding to e-mails. I also spend a lot of time responding to the same types of questions. I think if I set up a blog where they can go and access all sorts of resources and information it would save me a lot of time and energy. A big part of my job is supporting Learning Coaches and getting resources to them. I could easily do that with a blog, where it would be like "One stop shopping".  In addition,  I might be able communicate more effectively and have resources on hand for those Learning Coaches all the times. Plus, with the blog they can ask questions and everyone can see the response. So if they have the same question I don't end up having to respond to the same questions over and over again.

I am having a hard time thinking of how a Kindergartener could use a RSS Reader. I see where it can benefit me and save me time from bouncing in between all the different websites I regularly visit. But what can it do for a Kindergartener? I am open to ideas and suggestions. I know my students spend a lot of time on educational websites playing games, but what would be the purpose of having them on a RSS Reader?

Technology Transformation VS. Luddite

 Week 1 Personal Reflection 

Beyond technology integration: The Case for technology transformation & Of Luddites, Learning and Life. by Neil Postman

Postman, N. (1993). Of Luddites, learning, and life. Technos Quarterly, 2(4)

Reigeluth, C.M. & Joseph, R. (2002). Beyond technology integration: The case for technology transformation. Educational Technology, 42(4), 9-13.

 As Dr. Horvitz eluded to, this is definitely a more optimistic view of technology in education. I tend to air on the side of optimism as well, this is most likely because of my current job as a virtual teacher. My job has opened up my eyes to the technology that is out there and available to learners. Which I did not originally see, or use, as a brick and mortar teacher. This article also refreshes the reality of our dependence of technology. No longer do we have to go to the library and look in an encyclopedia. Most student's wouldn't even know what that is or how to use it.  I pick up my iPhone and hit my Google app and a few seconds later I have the answer I am looking for.  We are living in the "information age" as the authors pointed out.
The one thing that kept going through my mind while reading this, especially in the beginning of this article, was the authors dated view of what is going on in classrooms. I am not sure if it because this seems to be a older article, 2002 if I am not mistaken, but the author does not seem to have an accurate grasp of what is going on in classrooms everyday. He calls for a "transformation", and more individualized learning. I taught 1st grade for 3 years, and yes, we do have the GCLEs (grade content level expectations) and Common Core to abide by, but my students were not always learning the same thing at the exact same time. They had individual goals in Math, Reading, Writing, and Spelling. They had personal goal sheets that were individualized to meet their needs as a learner. I don't think technology is the sole  answer to this call for "transformation" I see it as a tool. There needs to be a balance. I love the opportunities and learning that technology can bring to education, but it is not the only answer. 
 The second article left more of a bad taste in my mouth. I felt like I wanted to say "lighten up!" to the author. The more I read the more I wanted to argue with him. I did not care for  his example of buying the car. I get what he was trying to illustrate, but I was interested to see if he was going to address, specifically what technology was hindering student's learning. I also, do not agree that "One of the principal functions of school is to teach children how to behave in groups." Is that what is in our job description as educators? I felt angry by the time I got to the end of this article. I think because I don't particularly like this article I have less to say. But, just to reiterate what I said above  it's about balance. I don't think technology is the enemy nor do I believe it to be the answer.