EDUC 9F62 Reflection

“Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much”  -  Helen Keller

http://goo.gl/evsVa9

What an experience taking EDUC 9F62 has been.  I have learned so much about so many different tools I can use in the classroom with regards to technology.  I feel so much more equipped to bring my level of teaching to another level.  But more importantly, I have discovered an entire universe of knowledge that I was not tapping into before… social media for the purpose of professional development.

As I reflect on setting up my first professional blog and joining a Google circle, I never thought it would be this meaningful.  After creating my online profile on About.me and linking it to my blog, I started to get a sense that this was something that I had been missing out on.  Once I linked my blog to twitter, I began to see this community of people much like me who were willing to share their ideas, strategies and their creativity.  I also began to see how everything was connected and interwoven.   

At first, writing and posting my ideas did not seem that important.  I have taken online courses before and shared my ideas in their forums and thought nothing of it.  However, it was not until I realized that I could share publically that I became even more motivated.  Knowing that my ideas would extend beyond the handful of people in my course into a global community made me want to write more.  I like the idea of helping other educators and the idea that I was a contributing member of this society. 

I remember my when I added my ‘Pageviews’ widget and wondering if people will read what I had posted.  Then slowly I started to see that people were viewing my blog and potentially learning from my posts.  I also liked that we shared what we created in Google Circles.  This was an amazing tool to let us share with each other, and publically, our assignments and reflections.  I enjoyed reading and booking marking (in Decilious and Livebinder) the ideas and research of the other members of my group.  I liked that we could share, question and compliment each other and engage in online discussions. 

As this course comes to a close, not only can I think back to all that I have learned, I can click on to my blog and read or share it whenever I like.  Thanks to the organization of this course, I have an online portfolio that I can continue to build on to and a portfolio that I can use in interviews to move my career in the direction that I would like.   Thank you to all of the other participants in this course.  I have learned a lot from each of you and I appreciate you sharing your posts with me.  As well, thank you to Zoe Branigan-Pipe for creating a course that is current, informative, and that I truly feel prepares me for what is happening in education at this given moment with regards to technology in the classroom.  Hands down, EDUC 9F62, is the most powerful Professional Development I have participated in.    

Teaching Students to Fail

http://goo.gl/Xz2GfV

"The beauty about games is that they encourage failure. They are predicated on kids trying things and failing and trying something else and trying it again.  That's a skill that we need to impart on our kids. This fearlessness in just doing stuff."¹    -  Dan Thalkar

Are video games a stretch in education?  Almost all teachers would concede that introducing gaming into the classroom would increase engagement, but would they agree that it improves learning? 

I think it is important to respect the engagement factor with regards to this topic, but I also think as educators we must look beyond it for more.  Can we effectively teach concepts, skills, strategies and curriculum that will prepare students for what lies ahead? 

The quote by Thalkar struck a cord with me because I never looked at it this way before.  Also because it lines up nicely with what I always tell my students, “If you are not struggling, you are not learning”.

By using the gaming framework, we are essentially allowing students to regroup, reformulate ideas and try something new until the achieve mastery or success, while at the same time developing a positive relationship with failure in a low stakes environment.²  This learning environment requires students to problem solve and expand their cognitive abilities.

The American Psychologist journal suggests that exposing students to gaming can also, “Strengthen a range of cognitive skills such as spatial navigation, reasoning, memory and perception”. ³  Similarly, another study found as much as 12 percent improvement in problem-solving abilities and memory. ⁴  

http://goo.gl/jH024y

One example of a gaming that is becoming more and more prevalent in schools is MinecraftEDU.  Currently, over 1700 schools around the world have purchased and are using this game to teach. ⁵ Co-owner and teacher, Joe Levin, believes that teachers are beginning to see the value in this game because they can change the game to fit the curriculum. ⁶

It is very apparent that teachers are doing just as Levin says.  A quick Google or Youtube search reveals teachers using and sharing their student work that touches on almost all curriculum subjects.  Students can apply what they are learning into their very own world that is limitless with regards to creativity and extensions.  Click here to see samples of some of this work.

This movement does not come without its skepticism and resistance.  Some parents online see games, such as MinecraftEDU, as a constant distraction and an addictive issue for children.  For instance, Lisa Guernsey blogs, “You may rue the day you let this time-sucker into your household?”⁷ However, she does go on to admit that she definitely sees the educational significance of this type of learning.

With this type of learning, it is possible that students can get too involved.  Eric Klopfer, a professor at MIT states, that “While the game (MinecraftEDU) is clearly good for kids, it doesn’t mean there should be no limits,”⁸

I guess if our biggest fear is over engagement and that on-going research supports its effectiveness of gaming in the educational setting, then I guess it time to get my Minecraft on and introduce gaming to my 21^st century learners!

http://goo.gl/atBkoZ 

 Work Cited

1: http://goo.gl/atBkoZ

2:  http://goo.gl/4HVFai

3:  http://goo.gl/G8PmzQ

4: http://goo.gl/BZGJwg

5: http://goo.gl/atBkoZ

6: http://goo.gl/hNRICB

7: http://goo.gl/fLe4l

8: http://goo.gl/DX5gws

Integrating Techology into the Curriculum

I have been teaching Grade eight for a decade now and I am always looking for ways to incorporate technology into lessons in a meaningful and engaging way.  I wanted to apply what I have learned in EDUC 29F2 to the subjects that I am currently teaching.  As well, I wanted to link this directly to curriculum expectations within these units. 

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Subject:  Math

Strand:  Data Management

Technology: Wufo, Google Spreadsheet, Photoshop

Curriculum Expectation:  

      -  collect data by conducting a survey or an experiment to do with themselves, their environment, issues in their school or community, or content from another subject, and record observations or measurements

      -    select an appropriate type of graph to represent a set of data, graph the data using technology, and justify the choice of graph (i.e., from types of graphs already studied, including histograms and scatter plots)

To incorporate technology more into these two expectations I would teach students how to make online forms (Wufoo or Google Forms) and have them conduct an online survey of their choice that would gather appropriate data to graph.  For instance, if they we were focusing on creating histograms they would need to collect continuous data or if they were going to create a scatter plot they would collect data that they might feel has a correlation.  By using technology, they could collect from a wide variety of their friends/family or from teachers (through their board addresses).  This would be a quick way for them to conduct a survey in a way that they would find novel, efficient and engaging. 

From there, I would have them use Google Spreadsheet to organize their data into the appropriate chart.  Using Google Spreadsheet would allow them to share their graphs with other students and/or collaborate together to design graphs and combine findings.  Note:  Google Spreadsheet does not make it possible to create Histograms, whereas Open Office and Excel allow you to remove the spacing between to bars to represent the continuousness of the data. 

To culminate the assignment, I would have them use Adobe Photoshop to organize their data and graphs in an effective manner.  Photoshop allows them to add graphics, text and other text features into an effective, professional looking final product.    

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Subject:  Language

Strand:  Writing (1.3 Research)

Technology: Livebinder

Curriculum Expectation:  

        -  Gather information to support ideas for writing, using a variety of strategies and a wide range of print and electronic sources (e.g.,produce a plan and timeline for carrying out research tasks; interview people with knowledge of the topic; identify and use graphic and multimedia resources; record sources used and information gathered in a form that makes it easy to understand and retrieve)

Introducing students to essay writing can be a daunting task to both teach and assess.  Students are drawn to using information from the internet, but often fall into the trap of using sites that are not reputable or accurate.  Generally, it is important to teach student-=s characteristics of trusted websites, but often difficult to check if they followed these guideline when assessing their final products.  This is where Livebinder comes into play.   By making Livebinder (or a similar site) a requirement, it becomes much more feasible to check the quality of their sources.  As well, this will help with the issue of paraphrasing.  Often students struggle to paraphrase and quote effectively.  Livebinder will enable teachers to see how well they developed this skill and allow them to check for work that is simply copy and pasted from the internet. 

In addition, if this research is done in groups, students can accumulate a variety of sites together to help them prepare their argument.  Or, the teacher can create a Livebinder of a variety of sites that students may use to gather their research.  Within this Livebinder could be a variety of sites that vary in quality.  This would demonstrate to the teacher which students could and could not select the trusted website.

Overall, Livebinder and other bookmarking sites could be a valuable tool to help students collect and organize their online research.
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Subject:  Science

Strand:  All (Continuum for Scientific Inquiry)

Technology: Evernote

Curriculum Expectation:  

-        -  performing and recording (e.g., following procedures, accessing information, recording observations and findings) (Page 12)

  

Recently I had the opportunity to work with one of our science teachers to create success criteria for science experiments reports.  Our main focus was to give student a better understanding of how they would be assessed.  We were specifically looking at their observations, results and conclusions.  During our co-construction of our success criteria for observations we decided to split it up into quantitative and qualitative observations.  For many of the experiments that they will be completing it would be very interesting for them to use a type of technology such as Evernote to collect their findings. 

Evernote would allow them to capture qualitative observations via the camera.  But more importantly, they could attach anecdotal information to go along with the pictures.  As well, since many of their labs build upon each other, they could use Evernote to look back on previous labs and observations to look for comparisons or to asses their improvement with regards to their ability to capture and record effective observations.   This tool would also be useful for students who were absent during the experiment.  They could review the images captured and the acedotal notes and get a grasp for what experiment revealed.

Even if only the teacher used Evernote to record these observations, it could be used to share in a blended learning environment or be use to help students learn more in depth about what the observations tell us about scientific concepts.

 Overall, here are three different areas of the curriculum that I plan on integrating what I have learned throughout EDUC 9F62.  Learning these tools throughout this course makes it easier to integrate technology into lessons effectively.  My question is why is this not more of a focus in our educational system.  We receive a barrage of Professional Development on everything except technology, why is that?  Our learners need this entwined throughout their day and their subjects to keep the current and motivated in our classrooms.  Perhaps its time to update our focus to suit our learners.