Edtech 541

First week reflection

Laptops in the Classroom

Our school is one of 4 in our District that has begun the integration of technology in to the classroom. Our school has every student in grade 9 and 10 to bring a personally own device (POD) for use in the classroom. Students can use cell phones, tablets, or laptops to interact with the curriculum and help them learn. It is expected that each student provide their own computing device, while we do have 5 laptops for students that financially cannot afford a computing device, so far every student has provided their own.

Our district uses a web base course organizer called Desire to Learn (D2L) which is similar to Moodle. I teach grade 9-12 Social Studies and my entire course for grade 9 and 10 is up on and available to my students. My course is designed where students must have a personal own device to be able to function and do the activities and assignments. Our school is completely wireless and has IT support available once a week.

There have been many challenges with the implementation of this program; accessing the lessons and activities using a cell phone and tablet has a challenge for students. Some lesson with embed videos don’t work on some mobile devices. Some students had difficulty accessing D2L. I had to create a mirror site on Google drive for some students so they could fully participate. Some students have POD’s that don’t have MS word and we have had to find alternative open sources programs for them. The roll out of this program would have been much more difficult had I not being enrolled in the MET program at Boise State which gave me access and introduction to variety of tools and techniques.

The program is been up and running for two months and most of the kinks have been worked out and students have adapting to the program and expectations. Overall students have enjoyed the opportunity to learn using technology, the flexibility of working at their own pace and having access to the most current information. Our Social Studies curriculum is based upon problem base learning and so access technology is crucial to the success of this type of curriculum. Next year we will add 2 more grades to the roll out as out grade 8 and 11 students will all have POD’s, eventually our 7-12 students will all have POD’s and we will have had 3 years of running this program. Our school is providing feedback to the District on what works and what needs to be changed or adapted. This technology roll out has been fully supported by our District as it is part of the larger roll out in the Province of Alberta where the traditional classroom is and will disappear and students will be empowered to learn any place ant anytime and teachers will become facilitators of learning, not the repositories of what is right and wrong.

I hope some insight from my experience helps

School Evaluation Summary

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EdTech 501

This week’s project was an analysis of our school and District level of technological integration, support and awareness.
The process included a survey of the staff, students and Districts use of technology and if this technology was used to enhance learning. I found the analysis to be very interesting, I knew our school and District were focused upon technology and were implementing new technologies in our school. But after doing this in depth analysis I came to realize how blessed our school is. We have the core infrastructure needed to support students learning with the use of technology. We have integrated technology and teaching and our students have embraced the opportunity. We have become just the 3rd school in our District to begin a 1:1 student to computer educational opportunity. Students in my grade 9 and 10 classes use their computers, tablet or cell phone every day to work on problem based learning lessons. All of my courses are on line and accessible with an internet device. Students have embraced this paperless learning environment and are slowly getting adept at manipulating technology to learn and demonstrate that knowledge in exciting electronic formats.
After doing this school analysis I realized that there is very little we lack in terms of technology. We have smart boards, projectors and laptops for every teacher. We use the Google cloud and can communicate through internal e-mail as well. We have 3 computer labs and 1 mobile laptop cart. We have 5 laptops just for our ESL students if they didn’t bring their own. We are also blessed by living in a community with a very high standard of living; our parents and community are prosperous and are generous to our school. We have very few students in financial need and because we are a Catholic school, there are many support systems in place to help the less fortunate.
After my analysis, my school ranks high in every category, we have a dynamic staff and administration that works hard to integrate technology into every day lessons and we have been given the tools by the District and Province to ensure we have what we need to be successful. Our school results on Provincial achievement exams are exemplary and we are held up as an example in the District of what can be accomplished when staff, students and District work together to educate our youth and prepare them for their future.
I am very proud to be at my school and certainly now after this reflection, feel very lucky to be where I am, I have been given a fantastic opportunity to grow and learn and use technology. Taking my Masters at Boise State has opened up new ideas and taught me new skills that I will integrate and share with my fellow professionals. I look forward to what the future brings.

Here is the survey that was part of the school analysis

This projects meets the following AECT standards.

4.2 Resource Management

Standard 5: Evaluation
5.1 Problem Analysis
5.2 Criterion-Referenced Measurement
5.3 Formative and Summative Evaluation
5.4 Long-Range Planning

Technology Use Planning Overview

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EdTech 501

 Technology Use Planning Overview

This week we have been formally introduced to technology use planning, I say formally because through my work I have been integrating technology over the last year.  We have been following an overall plan of integrating more and more technology into the classroom to enhance learning; our District published and shared their technology use plan several years ago.  A technology use plan is the guidelines that will help ensure a greater chance of success when integrating technology into the classroom.  I teach Social Studies and our Province embarked on implementing Problem Based Learning (PBL) seven years ago.  Over the last several years we have been adding the technology to enhance learning.   Our District has been implementing technology use planning for several years and as Al-Weschail states, this provides direction and helps users understand clearly where they are now and imagine where they want to be (Al-Weshail et. al., 1996).  So far the results of integrating technology to support student learning have been generally successful.  Our plan has been long term in scope, but with short term goals and objectives along the way.  I believe that it’s important to have both long term and short term goals.

 

In the United States the Department of Education has been created a new National Educational Technology Plan (NETP) back in 2010.This plan is designed to bring best practices into use across various states involved in standardizing efforts.  The goal is to support the creation of common standards and practices that then can be shared and implemented by teachers in the various districts.  The plan lays out specific ways to integrate technology into the classroom.  It is a document published by the United States Department of Education Office of Educational Technology with the purpose of setting a plan for technology implementation to reach the goal of increasing the rate of college graduates by 2020.  The NETP sets out various goals and objectives, each of these goals is supported through recommendations and with collaboration across states, built in reflection, evaluation and flexibility, goals can be achieved and academic success improved.  These goals, challenges and successes can be shared and used as a foundation for districts and schools creating technology use plans. Many of the recommendations are directed at the school level and can be incorporated into a technology use plans.

The National Education Technology Plan 2010 focuses on a 5 year plan, while the John See’s article “Developing Effective Technology Plans” (1992) states that technology should be a short term plan.  I understand that the NETP needs to have longer plans as they are attempting to coordinate multiple states and institutions that do not respond to change quickly.  Most educators and business leaders would agree that the USA needs to improve the quality of education and to improve the dropout rate.  I read on CBS news where there are 3 million jobs unfilled in the USA because they can’t find skilled workers.  The education system is failing America.  While this is not a top down mandatory program, the NETP tries more to guide, fund, support and share the successes in the integration of technology  at the local, district and state level.
I have to agree with See in the sense that technology changes too quickly to plan 5 years out.  Right now several students have chosen to use tablets as tool to help them learn in my classroom.  These devises are great for interacting with the web, as a vehicle to receive content.  But they are not very practical when we demand students to create material for the web.  Many tablets cannot function to the level of a laptop without the users having a strong technical background. But as stated earlier, technology changes quickly and so in a few years tablets maybe the smarted choice, maybe with more cloud computing the manipulation and creation of material will be easier.

For many schools and districts, computers have been used to teach technology skills, this was true for our school up until 5 years ago.  We used to teach word processing, excel, and PowerPoint.  Students now have been exposed to manipulating these programs early on in elementary school.  So by the time they come to my school they function well due to the fact that they are familiar with these programs.  So we no longer teach the MS Suite, we just expect students to know how to manipulate these and many other productivity programs.  Things for our school really began to change when our District began to require teachers to begin implementing technology into the classroom.  The process followed a plan to begin with baby steps  with simple things like requiring teachers to put their marks and comments and course outline (as a minimum) into an online web platform called Desire to Learn (D2L) , this is similar to Moodle.  Then each year our District required more and more of teachers’ course content to be made available to students on this platform.  Many teachers initially were reluctant to embrace D2L as they saw it as extra work to move their work into the electronic format.  Many teachers have taught the same material and lessons for years and they don’t like change so they stuck with tried and true and electronic copies of their work was not happening.  But I very often taught different material and courses, and so I had already put my lessons into flash drives or saved electronically.  I saw D2L to be transparent with students’ and parents, to enable students to see all of my lessons, activities and reviews.  I saw this as a way to help students’ that missed school or had fallen behind to easily catch up and transition back into class or complete missing assignments.  D2L allowed for me to make alterations to my lessons and activities from one class to another. After reflection or implementation, if a lesson needed to be tweaked or changed, it was easy to have it ready to go right away.  No need to photocopy new material.  Our Province has also embraced Problem Based Learning and the entire Social Studies curriculum is geared towards developing higher order of thinking and to develop an independent, strong academic student.  Our students continually rank in the top 5 for academic success and will only improve as we continue to use technology to support problem based learning.

 

My experience with technology use has been ongoing for several years, but just this past year our school is the 3^rd school to begin implementing a District wide program of having each student to have a computing devise every day in school.  We are rolling it out with our Grade 9’s and 10’s this year and each year we will add a grade until all of our students will be expected to have and use a Personally Owned device (POD)  Students in my classes use cell phones, tablets, iPad’s and laptops.  Our school is entirely Wi-Fi enabled and we have a very large bandwidth portal.  In fact our school has one the of the highest bandwidth usages in the District and we are the smallest school in our district with only 340 students in grades 7-12.  So students and staff have fully embraced this opportunity to integrate technology into the classroom.  Personally all of my lessons are PBL and students cannot function without a POD of some sort, we use Google Drive, D2L and others to work and share material.  Our school District has a portion of the Google Cloud and every student and staff has a Google based e-mail and access to the entire Google suite of online systems.  This roll out of technology integration has meant we have had to plan things out, revise and move forward.  We spent time with the first school in our district to roll this program out; we met with staff and some students and received input, suggestions and ideas on how to implement the roll out with minimal glitches and challenges.  However, as the technology plans stated, we ran into challenges.  But with support and lots of money from our District we have had a successful implementation.  Our student and parents have embraced the implementation of technology in to the classroom and look forward to further technology integration.

All of this success could not take place without a Technology Use Plan.  Our Province, District and school all have technology use plans and like any good plan we revise and reflect and move forward with our successes.

 

 

 

References

Al-Weshail, A. S., Baxter, A., Cherry, W., Hill, E. W., Jones, II, C. R., Love, L. T., . . . Woods, J. C. (1996, May 7). Guidebook for developing an effective instructional technology plan: Version 2.0.Mississippi State University. Retrieved from http://www.nctp.com/downloads/guidebook.pdf

See, J. (1992). Developing effective technology plans. The Computing Teacher,19(8). Retrieved from http://www.nctp.com/html/john_see.cfm

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. (2010).Transforming American education: Learning powered by technology. Washington, D.C. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/netp2010.pdf

AECT Standards

Standard 3: Utilization
3.4 Policies and Regulations

In this assignment I read and used the National Education Technology Plan 2010 as well as the Guidebook for Developing an Effective Instructional Technology Plan Version 2.0

 

RSS Feeds Assignment

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EdTech 501

Looking but not seeing

“Many times I looked but never saw.”

That old adage of not truly seeing something until it’s pointed out is how I feel about this RSS feed assignment. I have seen the RSS feed logo or similar options to subscribe to a particular sites news updates. I was always reluctant to even click on the link as I believed they would just send updates to my e-mail and I already get too many e-mails every day. I believed that by not subscribing I would be saving time by not having to read each e-mail from various web sites. Of course now I understand that the opposite is true. By subscribing I can go to my Google Reader and have access to all of the web sites I would normally read all updated in one place.

As a Social Studies teacher I am a news junkie and I am constantly reading news sights for updates and interesting stories to tie into each days lessons. So I used to have the various key news sites open in my browser at all times and I would search back and forth looking for any changes or updates. This was time consuming and often a distraction for me and my students as I project my laptop screen onto my smart board. Now with my RSS feeds I just go to one page and quickly scroll through, clean and simple.
I have begun involving students in finding sites they are interested in and I have created a link in my online course to allow students to share their RSS feeds. They can suggest curriculum-related sites for their fellow students to subscribe to. On a personal level, they can subscribe to friends’ blogs, receive news and sports updates, and keep abreast of anything of interest to them.

If shown how to use Google Reader efficiently, students may find it to be a powerful tool and part of the electronic skill set.

Teacher Resources

AECT Standards

Standard 2: Development Candidates demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to develop instructional materials and experiences using print, audiovisual, computer-based, and integrated technologies.

2.3 Computer-Based Technologies Computer-based technologies are ways to produce or deliver materials using microprocessor-based resources.
The use of RSS feeds requires the use of a computer for the collection and viewing of the feeds.
Standard 3: Utilization Candidates demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to use processes and resources for learning by applying principles and theories of media utilization, diffusion, implementation, and policy-making.

3.1 Media Utilization Media utilization is the systematic use of resources for learning.

3.2 Implementation and Institutionalization Implementation is using instructional materials or strategies in real (not simulated) settings. Institutionalization is the continuing, routine use of the instructional innovation in the structure and culture of an organization.
Standard 4: Management Candidates demonstrate knowledge, skills, and dispositions to plan, organize, coordinate, and supervise instructional technology by applying principles of project, resource, delivery system, and information management.

4.3 Delivery System Management Delivery system management involves planning, monitoring and controlling ‘the method by which distribution of instructional materials is organized’…[It is] a combination of medium and method of usage that is employed to present instructional information to a learner.

4.4 Information Management Information management involves planning, monitoring, and controlling the storage, transfer, or processing of information in order to provide resources for learning.

Tech Trends Assignment

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EdTech 501

Tech Trends: The Horizon Report

For this assignment, I first needed to read a copy of the 2012 Horizon Report put together by the New Media Consortium. The Horizon Report shares information about upcoming technologies that may impact education in both the k-12 and higher education settings.

This important report focuses on the new and future technology trends that will impact education.  Many of these trends are happening right now and as technology teachers, this report is crucial to our understanding of where we are and where the future of education will be in the near future.  The report touched upon the growing trend of cell phones and tablets in the classroom.  This is happening already in many schools and is a trend that will only get more popular.  In fact the school I teach at has begun the implementation of this.  This year we have our entire grade 9 and 10 students required to bring and use a computer of some sort.  These personally owned devices (POD’s) can be cell phones, tablets and laptops.  The lessons I have developed focus on problem based learning and each student needs to have a POD to be able to function in research, class discussions, blogs and the occasional group assignment.  Eventually all students in grades 7-12 at my school will require POD’s, and this is part of a greater trend in the province of Alberta where students will have greater control to be able to complete their education were and when they want.  In many ways the old traditional classrooms will disappear  and be replaced by a dynamic and interactive classroom and  teachers rolls will have a much greater role in technology and the facilitation of learning. 

The lesson attached  still has to be facilitated by a teacher, students need to follow the instructions and will need help with time management.  Students in my class know how to open and invite others into their Google drive documents, if your students don’t know how to do that, teach them before you begin this lesson.

When I have taught this lesson in the past students offer very harsh and unreasonable punishment suggestions for the accused offenders in the case studies.  Before I teach this lesson students have been introduced to alternative and reasonable punishment for youth. The focus being upon ensuring all parties are treated fairly, this includes the victim, the accused and all aspects of the justice system.  So it’s important to remind students that 5 years in jail for stealing lip stick is not reasonable.  Also having taught this unit the only current examples of youth being charged with crimes are usually very violent and aberrant as the common and petty crimes tend not to reach the front pages of the local paper.  Also I have invited a youth justice lawyer and or a youth support group to come in and talk to the students about youth crime and the role citizens play in the justice system.

Over all students like the case studies and they like to present and defend their positions, using Google Drive real-time features make this a fun and easy way to have a discussion and debate.

I hope my insights help you if you use this lesson.

The lesson I created is one I use in my class, in fact we will be covering the justice system as it relates to youth starting next week.  This lesson requires the use of a POD, students need to have a Google Drive account and wifi internet access.

AECT Standards:

• Standard 1: Design
  1.1 Instructional Systems Design
• 1.3 Instructional Strategies

I have met this standard by researching and analyzing technology trends through the 2012 Horizon report.  I have also created an original, lesson plan that meets the Alberta Program of Studies that relates to youth and the justice system.

• Standard 3: Utilization
  3.1 Media Utilization
  I used many different media resources to develop a developmentally appropriate lesson plan.
  3.3 Implementation and Institutionalization
• 2.3 Computer-Based Technologies
  I have implemented this lesson plan into my classroom where we have the necessary resources available to us, including wifi, a District Google account for each student, access to a computer, on line lesson organized D2L.

Digital Inequality Assignment

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EdTech 501

This assignment was a group project that required us to work collaboratively to solve a problem as explained below. We used Google Drive to create, chat and collaborate, it was a great opportunity to work online with a group all located in different locations. All in all I found it to be an interesting and enjoyable experience.  The assignment is described below.
As a member of this Task Force to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, you are assigned the task of evaluating these alternatives, possibly suggesting other alternatives, and giving recommendations. She has asked your group to prepare a multimedia presentation that will be delivered to all the relevant stakeholders.
For this assignment, you will collaborate with your small group, using Google Presentation to address the following:
1. Discuss and compare digital divide and digital inequality;
2. List the seven options suggested by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction;
3. Describe any alternative(s) in addition to the seven you believe should be considered; and
4. Identify the strongest alternatives and the weakest alternatives and why you rate them as you do.
While the Internet may be seen as one of the most popular vehicles for the dissemination of information, it may also be viewed as one that is easily accessible to certain classes of people, as is out of reach for many, giving only limited access to some. Hence emerging from this predicament are two distinct variables: Digital Divide and Digital Inequality. However, before one can adequately discuss the topic Digital Divide versus Digital Inequality, he/she should be able to distinguish between the two variables.
As a group we came up with what we believed to be pros and cons of the options listed above. We felt there was no one simple solution to these problems. We felt there had to be an array of options that needed coordination and a focused approach. In the presentation shown below our group felt there was a distinct need to solve this problem because according to statistics provided by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the United States is ranked nineteenth in the world for providing internet services for its people. This position should be a message for the USA for them to re-group and re-tool in order to re-claim their rightful position in the technological global marketplace.
In 2004 the President made the forward thinking statement that that “Within the next five years, they’ll make it possible for businesses to deploy the next generation of high-speed wireless coverage to 98 percent of all Americans” After those years have passed and the goals have not been met I wonder, given the budgetary challenges faced by the United States, that this goal will not be met even after the President finishes his last term four years from now.
Some areas of the US have a distinct digital inequality as some students go home to their broadband high speed internet and other students go home to their slow dial- up connection. Though both have access to the internet, those with a faster connection will eventually get their work done more efficiently, for example a student accessing a  school based web site to get updates and connect with other students and learners, while dial up users are unable to do much more than view web pages and have limited internet experience. Given the growing economic divergence in the US, where the middle class is disappearing we will continue to see that thisl trend will continue as only the surviving middle and upper classes will be able to afford broadband and if the marginalized of the society gets access, it is still going to be the ‘slow’ dial- up connection; as a result, digital inequality will still linger.
However there are glimmers of hope as one emerging trend that needs careful attention and consideration is the fast growing use of smart devises, phones and tablets to the classroom. Several school districts and States are now mandating that all students in school will be provided with a computer and have promised broadband network support.
I teach in Alberta Canada and our Province has made integration of technology in the classroom a major goal and has supported this goal with significant resources, time and effort. Our students continually rank in the top 5 in the world for math and science test score results and this will only increase as the technological integration continues. It seems like it’s a full on race as we try to stay competitive with the rest of the world that we are all connected and interconnected with.

References
Barzilai-Nahon, K. (2006). Gaps and bits: Conceptualizing measurements for digital divide/s. The Information Society, 22(5), 269-278. (PDF file)
Computer and Internet Use by Students in 2003. (2006). Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2006065
Cooper, M. (2004). Expanding the digital divide and falling behind in broadband. Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union. Retrieved from http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/digitaldivide.pdf
DiMaggio, P., & Hargittai, E. (2001). From the ‘digital divide’ to ‘digital inequality: Studying Internet use as penetration increases. Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Working Paper Series number, 15. Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/~arts…gittai.pdf
DiMaggio, P., Hargittai, E., Celeste, C., & Shafer, S. (2004). From unequal access to differentiated use: A literature review and agenda for research on digital inequality. Social Inequality, 355-400. Retrieved from http://www.eszter.com/research…uality.pdf
Hargittai, E. (2003). The digital divide and what to do about it. New Economy Handbook, 821-839. Retrieved from http://www.eszter.com/research…divide.pdf
ITU Country rankings. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.itu.int/net/itunews/issues/2010/03/26.aspx
McConnaughey, J., Nila, C. A., & Sloan, T. (1995). Falling through the net: A survey of the “have nots” in rural and urban America. National Telecommunications And Information Administration. Retrieved from http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/fallingthru.html
Cooper, M. (2004). Expanding the digital divide and falling behind in broadband. Consumer Federation of America and Consumers Union, October. Retrieved from http://www.consumerfed.org/pdfs/digitaldivide.pdf.

DiMaggio, P., & Hargittai, E. (2001). From the ‘digital divide’ to ‘digital inequality’: Studying Internet use as penetration increases. Princeton University Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Working Paper Series number, 15. Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/~artspol/workpap/WP15%20-%20DiMaggio+Hargittai.pdf.
DeBell, M. and Chapman, C. (2006). Computer and Internet Use by Students in 2003 (NCES 2006-065). US Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

AECT Standards

This assignment conforms to the following AECT Standards, through the use of collaborative and integrated media technologies (Google docs, Google presentation), discussion of real world policy and regulations in an attempt to utilize technology for the benefit of others, and effective management of available resources.

This project addressed the following AECT Standards:

2.4 Integrated Technologies

Working with a group with members spread out across North America, we were required to work with multiple technology tools and integrate them to complete a project.

3.2 Diffusion of Innovations

This standard was achieved through our work with new tools.

3.4 Policies and Regulations

We addressed a critical issue in the realm of technology education.  We made recommendations on policy implementation based on our discussions.  We didn’t always agree, but we created some meaningful conversation.

4.2 Resource Management

It took careful planning and resource management to collaborate across timezones, work, and personal obligations.

Zotero Library Assignment

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EdTech 501

Compose a brief reflection about this assignment–how you demonstrate digital literacy skills through conducting effective searches using Google Scholar and Albertsons Library. Discuss how you applied APA style to a reference list. Also, you might want to include your experiences learning how to use Zotero and how you might use it in the classroom. Include information about using Zotero groups and how that might be used in your classroom, if applicable.

Finally, add your resources you collected that support the use of technology to enhance teaching and learning. Remember, the more you add  now about artifacts, along with reflections, the more you will remember later down the road, when you have to select artifacts for your final portfolio.

Learning Log Assignment

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EdTech 501

This learning log is part of the AECT standards, specifically; Standard 2: Development, with the sub-standard 2.0.7 “Contribute to a professional portfolio by developing and selecting a variety of productions for inclusion in the portfolio” as well as Standard 4.4: Information Management.

Part of the process involved in any professional endevour includes a reflective practice. As a teacher, it is part of my professional obligations to participate in many professional development training sessions. Many include opportunities to reflect on your own teaching practice. As a professional I am obligated to continually adapt new teaching practices and techniques with the goal to best serve our community.
This learning log will also reflect my experience and projects in EdTech at Boise State.
So check back here for regular updates, funny stories and challenges overcome.

Introduction Video

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EdTech 501

This is my edtech 501 introductory video. I made this video using Prezi, I used two MP4 videos, one Youtube linked video and then two videos I used Wondershare to edit. I had never used Prezi, but had seen prezi presentations. (Prezi) It was a little challenging to get used to at first but once I got the hang of it it was easier. I have seen some amazing Prezi presentations, I hope to get that good in the future. I found the greatest challenge was the Camtasia voice overlay. I found that the video didntformat properly when uploaded to Youtube. After considerable time, I figured it out, I guess thats the beauty of the M.E.T. program, is that it’s hands on, hard to forget how to do things after you spend 5 or 6 hours trying to find a solution to your problem!

This video addresses Standard 2.4 that states “Candidates demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to develop instructional materials and experiences using print, audiovisual, computer-based, and integrated technologies.” This activity required me to integrate audio, visual and graphic medias using a computer, Prezi and Camtasia.