Why use technology in the classroom?

This is the essential question that arose as a result of my participation in the summer, 2008 NYC Writing Project seminar about technology in the classroom.

My Chat With Fellow NYCP Collegue, Aileen Malave

  • Aileen: Hi
  • 11: 37 AM so I remember yesterday that you were talking about what you had put into your tumblr on confidence. I wanted to use this chat for my tumblr. Can you elaborate a little on what you put in?
  • 11: 39 AM r u still there?
  • 14 minutes
  • 11: 54 AM me: What I was really talking about was the idea of empowering our students with tools they are comfortable with and using these tools to help them understand the skills we are trying to teach them. In this way they build confidence in their ability to function out of their comfort zones.
  • 35 minutes
  • 12: 29 PM Aileen: so do think that the tool's we've learned here at the workshop will help do that?
  • me: I think to a limited extent they will. Some of the issues I'm concerned about will be hardware availability both in and out of school and adapting the curriculum to make use of the technology. For example, my first unit this year will be personal narratives. I see my students using hypertextopia to brainstorm, then moving to voice thread to actually create the story. But if they cannot upload their photos or videos, then I'm not sure if it will work.
  • What about you? How do you see yourself using these tools?
  • Aileen: I see, and then at that point the motivation will be replaced with frustration.
  • me: Yes, that's usually what happens and I give up because I get no support.
  • Aileen: I see myself teaching these tools to staff, but many aren't as computer savy, so that's when I need to give them a motivation through maybe showing them the projects i've created.
  • plus I thought of creating worksheets for them to follow so they can be more at ease at what theyre doing
  • me: I agree - I think handouts make all of us feel more secure. Plus I know that when I get home I'm not going to remember half of what we did or how we did it. I spent a lot of time this week writing down instructions such as, then click this, then drag that, look for the text in blue, etc. But I'm still not sure how it will all work in the classroom. Adding to the frustration is the thought that I'll get my students all excited about this and I won't be able to follow through.
  • Aileen: writing down instructions is good, but what I learned about technology is continuing to play with the programs so that eventually you'd be used to their functions. Next thing you know you wouldn't be needing the instructions you wrote down anymore...hence...you become more confident with what you're doing.
  • 12: 45 PM ;)
  • me: Yes, this is true too, but I'm often afraid to begin clicking on stuff for fear I'll lose what I have. The nice thing about many of these programs, like Google.docs is that it is automatically saved every 10 seconds. Something like tumblr is a little less user friendly because the tabs are not as self explanatory. But you're right - I think the more I use them the more comfortable I will be and our students have absolutely no fear.
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Education Today and Tomorrow (via shareski)

This is just too cool and too true to pass up!!

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Bringing 21st Century Learning to Your Classroom (via elemenous)

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This is a conversation that occurred on Voice of America radio on June 24, 2008 involving Faith Lapidus and Steve Ember with EXPLORATIONS in VOA Special English, and Rick Reo of George Mason University in Virginia.  They focus on the use of various Web 2.0 tools to bring information technology into the classroom.  Please listen and enjoy because they do a very good job of explaining the significance of many Web 2.0 tools.

[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
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Wired Campus: The Battle Between Web 2.0 and the Classroom - Chronicle.com

June 18, 2008 The Battle Between Web 2.0 and the Classroom The collaborative nature of Web 2.0 tools and the structure of higher education seem to be in conflict, says Martin Weller, a professor of educational technology at the Open University, in Britain, in a recent blog post on e-Literate. Weller, who in 1998 launched the Open University’s first major e-learning course, said that although “most students want the structure, the support and the filter that higher education provides,” a project launched by his institution is showing that online learners tend to organize themselves in groups according to their learning interests and help each other in their learning process. Weller says new Web tools (such as wikis and video-capture technology) put power in the hands of students, but traditional learning-management systems (such as Moodle and Blackboard) emphasize central control by the learning institutions, so he predicts that “monolithic LMSs will be deserted, digital tumbleweed blowing down their forums. Students will abandon this in favor of their tools.” —Maria José Viñas Posted on Wednesday June 18, 2008 | Permalink |

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wfarkas: Students using technology and collaborating in the learning process.

wfarkas:

Students using technology and collaborating in the learning process.

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Why Bring Technology into the Classroom?

wfarkas:

The essential question we are all wrestling with is the idea that we may be doing this for some inexplicable reason. We need to disabuse ourselves of this notion. The idea that the world is at our fingertips is only one reason to bring the internet and its tools into our classroom. The important pedagogical reason is that it heightens and utilizes different intelligences and opens conversational doors that would otherwise remain closed. Web 2.0 is a means of giving our students windows into their own metacognition and allows them flexibility in exploring their apptitudes and does so in a way that is meaningful to them. The oft-heard lament of educators today is, how do I make this relevant to my students? The fact of utilizing technology in a creatively interactive way rather than just as a research and writing tool makes learning and thinking relevant and enticing to today’s students.  Please take a look at the Youtube video, Education Today and Tomorrow that is located above.
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“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”
- confucious.

This is probably the original statement that students learn by doing. Not only that, they learn by doing and using what they are comfortable and familiar with. Computers and technology make learning fun for kids and offer them new opportunities to expand their schema in a way that makes learning easier and provides multiple opportunities for skill acquisition and improvement. Confucius understood that imagery (the screen), participation (the keyboard) and sharing (collaboration) are key elements in deepening understanding. The fact that multiple skills can be learned at the same time is an added benefit.”
— http://www.quoteland.com/topic.asp?CATEGORY_ID=92 (via wfarkas)
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"technology = happiness"

wfarkas:

This is an interesting blog discussion about how integrating technology into the classroom really helps to increase student involvement. One of the things we’ve been discussing is how to increase student investment in their own learning. By bringing technology into the classroom, we make it fun and interesting for our students to learn. By making it fun and interesting, we are bringing learning to them, rather than hoping that they will find their way to what we are trying to teach them. In reversing the process, so to speak, we are inviting students to explore the areas we want them to see and we are inviting new ways of thinking about the world and what it has to offer.
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