Ch. 31 Reflection

The part of the chapter that I found to be very interesting was the section discussing artificial intelligence. I am amazed that eventually people will have the capabilities to program a computer to have the intelligence comparable to a human. For a computer to be able to tell how much a student is actually learning, how much they are relying on the helps available and how to problem solve while 'teaching' boggles my mind. It's truly amazing to think that it's possible this could be happening within the next decade. I must admit I'm not sure how I feel about this however. I don't know if this is truly the best thing for our society. I think that computerized training programs are great, but to have computers replace tutors for a large percentage of the time worries me a little bit. I feel there are so many people that are already struggling to relate to people because of the crutch they have by relating through a computer. Taking away one more human interaction time could be detrimental. I could be wrong, but those are simply some speculations. I'm sure it will have it's advantages as well.

My favorite activity that we did this semester was probably playing with the photo editing sites. I really love pictures and playing around with them was something I really enjoyed. It was fun to try some new things and to see how I could make things different with some photos and try to capture some different lighting, moods, and emotions by doing so. It may not have been the most beneficial for my professional use, but I really enjoyed using it. I also found learning how to use Delicious was very beneficial. It's so nice to have my favorites bookmarked on a site I can access on any computer. I've really learned a lot this semester.

Week 12 Reading Reflection

I really found the reading this week to be very interesting. I think one thing that I will take away from this is the need to reflect on what teaching methods I am using and how effective they really are. For example, being that I work with students with autism, they do not do well with a lot of external stimulus. They are very visual learners, relying a lot on pictures and visual representation of nearly everything. That being said, if I were to create a training module to teach them something on the computer I would definitely leave out any background music and limit the auditory instruction to a minimum, making sure the visuals are clear and precise. If it is done properly there will be less information for them to process and they will be able to focus on the important pieces of information.
Another thing that I can take away from this reading to the professional field is to remember to consider the prior knowledge of students when designing a lesson. This was something that was drilled into our heads in my undergraduate classes, always be sure to assess prior knowledge at the beginning of a lesson, but I think that sometimes I tend to forget this and plow forward with whatever I was going to teach. It can make a big difference on what information I want to teach, whether or not they have something to connect the new information to and what style to present the information to. If they have some prior knowledge of a subject it will be easier for them to process this new information and I can go a little deeper with the lesson, rather than building new information so that they can connect it to something in the future.
While this chapter was a little complex, it was very interesting and valuable information, something I can keep in mind for the future.

Online Tools Review

Office Suite Application: Zoho Writer
I tested out the Zoho Writer. I found this to be very comprable to Microsoft Word and even has some perks that Microsoft does not have. One perk is that you are able to save your documents online or offline so that you are able to access your documents from any computer. Another benefit to this is that you can share your documents with co-workers by making them public. It includes almost all of the formatting features of Microsoft Word, although there are fewer font choices and does not include clip art. I also really like the fact that you are able to access all features on one menu without any searching and that you can post documents to your blog. I think that this application is very user friendly and makes a good substitute for Microsoft.


Photo Editing Application: FotoFlexer
I had a lot of fun playing around with FotoFlexer. They have so many different settings and things you can do to edit your pictures, such as adding animations, borders and text. Of course you can do the basic editing like cropping, resizing, red eye reduction and use other similar tools. One thing I really enjoyed was that you can edit photos from other websites such as Facebook, MySpace and Flickr as well as photos saved on your computer. It also makes it easy to share photos that you have edited through email or posting onto a website. There is a description of all the tools on the homepage as well as a demo that you can watch to explain how each tool works. Another easy to use application that I would highly recommend using. It was a lot of fun and easy to use.

Classroom Website

I made a website for my classroom, something I think is very valuable for teachers to have now. It's a great way to keep parents informed of what's going on and other important updates they may need to know. I included a calendar with important dates that are coming up. I also included a place for weekly updates. Eventually I will make a page that keeps a backlog of previous updates in case parents want to go back and read old entries. I also put a place for announcements. This will hopefully negate the need to send notes home so often and will save paper. Also, I included a page with pictures of things going on in our classroom so that parents can have a better idea of some of the things we are doing. It was a lot of fun to make and I hope that I can continue to keep it up.
This is my site.

Reflections on Competencies

As professionals we should always be looking for ways to improve because I don't believe the status of perfection can ever be achieved. Being fairly new in the teaching profession there are still a great number of areas that I want to improve upon. I took a look at the competencies for the instructor because it is most closely related to the areas I am looking to improve upon.
One area that I wanted to improve on is preparing for instruction, improve the organization. There are so many days where I feel like I am running around at the last minute trying to get things ready for what is coming next in our day. I want to work on being more prepared and having things organized so that the day will run more smoothly and I will feel more in control of what is going on. Despite the fact of having limited planning time and no real curriculum to work from, there are ways to get around this and be prepared.
Another area that I am looking to improve upon is to promoting the transfer of knowledge and skills. Working with special education students, the generalization of knowledge is something that is extremely difficult for them, but also very important. I need to work on teaching them functional skills inside the classroom and then reteach the information outside of the classroom so that they are able to directly see how these skills can be used in 'the real world.'
The final area of competency that I want to work on is assessing learning and performance. I think that so often I am more worried about pushing on to the next activity that I don't always stop to assess how the students are doing with the material being taught. I need to get better about modifying instruction on things that may have been confusing and not be afraid to go back and re-teach. If it is important enough to be taught, then I should be doing my best to help all students understand.

Of course there are many other areas that I want to improve upon, but these are three of the major areas.

Screencast

For my screencast I gave an example of an assignment I would give to my students after having read the book Bud Not Buddy. It includes how to insert a table to compare and contrast two characters from the book as well as a hyperlink to the website where they got information from and a picture to illustrate the book they read. If experienced in Microsoft Word it is not a difficult task, but for elementary students, this is a task they may not be familiar with.

Putting It All Together

After completing the reading of the third chapter in this series I found a couple commonalities. The first major commonality that I noticed was the importance of teamwork. In Chapter 18 it goes into great detail discussing the roles that instructional designers play as a team member. In Chapter 21 it talks a lot about the role that a team plays when trying to implement a change in a school system. Finally, in Chapter 22 the various professors talk about the role that team plays when deciding tenure for professors as well as in faculty development. Teamwork is important in many different professional fields, but I feel that it is especially important in this field. One of the main roles that instructional designers is to improve the education of our children and to improve how businesses are facilitated, and it is my strong opinion that this is much more thoroughly done by a group of people rather than by a single individual. There are more ideas on the table and the load is not being carried by one person. Also, ideally, with a group of people the change will be made or the task will be completed more efficiently and quickly. Not only that, but with a team, there is a lot more accountability involved.

Another major commonlity that I noticed was making changes in the respective fields. I thought that this was very appropriate seeing as how technology is always changing, that this field would be constantly looking for ways to change and better the way things are done now. In the coporate setting they are looking for ways to run their businesses more efficiently. Obviously in education they are always looking for ways to improve (i.e. improve teaching styles and more effective integration of technology.) Instructional designers play a large role in all of these areas, holding trainings and workshops and serving as members of teams to help facilitate all of these changes.

It was interesting to see it all come together and see how the instructional design component can be a bridge across these different fields. I never realized before what an important role they play.

Chapter 21 Reflection

There was a lot of good information in this chapter, a lot to take in. One thing that really struck me was how many steps need to occur leading up to the process of systemic change. It really makes you realize how difficult that change is. To make a change occur that is really going to impact the educational process it takes a lot of effort and is not something that is going to happen overnight. It also involves a team of people collaborating and working together to make this change possible. In order to better our educational process and keep improving the way that we help the kids, our future, learn we need to be constantly looking for ways to improve. Not only are there a lot of steps that lead up to the systemic change process, but there's also a long list of events that are continuously happening throughout that process and afterwards as well, to be continually evaluating the changes that are being made.
The Step Up to Excellence methodology seems like a good way to go about figuring out what needs to change and then how to implement it. I really like how there are so many different teams and roles. Assuming it is run properly, I can see where this would be very effective. It's a great idea to delegate so that the responsibility does not lie solely on a small group of people to change an entire district. When working together the team can break things down into smaller roles and really be able to concentrate on a smaller area. If it's done right and people are using good teamwork I think that it is a good method and one that more schools should try. It's not good to stay stagnant and remain the same. Once again, it's important to be continually looking for ways to improve so that the students can receive the best education possible.

My Family Tree Google Map

View Larger Map

I am doing a unit on family right now in my classroom, so my idea for a lesson plan is to use a map to locate where the students family lives in the United States, or in the world. First, I would have them create a family tree and then locate their relatives on the map. To take it one step further they could measure in miles how far away the relatives live from their homes. They could figure out who lives closest and farthest away. Above is an example of where my family lives.

Business & Industry and a Reflection

Working in a school setting, which differs so much from the corporate world, I find it difficult to compare this chapter to my current professional setting. However, I do like the idea of the team approach, especially the global team approach. I think it could be helpful to be able to compare notes with teachers in other parts of the state, country and even the world. While standards are obviously different in different parts of the world, the basic goal is the same: educating the students and preparing them to make it in 'the real world.' This is already happening to a certain extent with websites that teachers can make their lesson plans available, but I think it could be beneficial to make it part of professional development where an online conference is scheduled once a quarter for teachers of similar fields to discuss teaching strategies and ideas. Principals could set this up with other schools and by doing so this could make schools more unified and strengthen each other.
Another thing that I think could be beneficial to implement in the school system is more technology-based training delivery. There are so many strategies for instruction, classroom management, integrating technology and many others that most of the time are presented by going to a conference or a workshop, which can be very helpful. However, it could be more cost efficient and time efficient to do some of these trainings by using a technology-based training delivery. By still having online communication available as an option questions could still be asked and teachers could still collaborate. I think this could be a good option for many in the teaching profession.

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I feel like I've learned a lot thus far this semester. I am quite familiar with technology, having had to implement it quite a lot in my undergraduate courses, not to mention that has been a part of growing up in today's world. However, there have been some things that I had not yet experimented with that I enjoyed learning about. I have not necessarily found any of them extremely challenging, but we have been provided with good instructions that have been easy to follow. Not to mention, all the other members of the class have been very supportive in helping out with any questions. I've never felt at a loss for what to do. I hope to be able to incorporate some of these things in my classroom. As of right now I can most likely see myself using the blogs and the bookmarking page, but will definitely keep the other tools in my mind as a resource just in case they could ever be implemented. I think this is a good class for beginning a masters program. I find the work load manageable and is a good introduction for what is to come in the program. I like that we are constantly looking at how we can apply this in the professional world. It has been a good class so far.

Podcasts and HPI

This chapter fits what teachers do almost to a "T." It talks a lot about how to enhance the performance of humans and what motivates them to do better. Correlating this to a classroom is a very logical process. As I've mentioned before I work in an ASD classroom and much of what we try to teach them are functional skills in order to normalize them into society as much as possible. Thus we are trying to enhance their performance, not necessarily to produce a product in a company, but to help produce functioning members of society. While most of my students are unlikely to ever be independent, getting to know them I know they have made an impact on me and the other people they come into contact with in our school. They have a lot to offer and motivating them to do better is a big part of my job. We use a rewards system in our class, rewarding them for completing a task well or completing it without any tantrums. After four 'squares' on their 'square charts' they receive a reward, which for most of them is time on the computer. This is a good method for our students because it is very visual and gives them frequent gratification for their good behavior. It tends to make things run more smoothly, at least most of the time. The better their behavior, the more we are able to teach them and the more likely thier performance will improve in life.
I can see podcasts being useful in the classroom. When studying certain topics, especially right now with the election process going on, there are many good podcast on the Internet for students to listen to. It is a great way to give students a news update to keep them up to date in regards to current events. Sometimes the students need to hear the information from a different source and it's always good to keep some variety in the classroom. As far as using podcasts in my classroom, I don't see them being very practical. My kids are very visual and unless I had prepared pictures or icons to go along with the podcast I don't think it would be very beneficial for them, but like I said I can see them having educational benefits for other situations.

Podcast Website

I am very interested in children's literature and so I found this podcast to be very fascinating. I enjoy staying up to date on what's new in children's literature.
http://childrensbookradio.com/episodeguide.html

Week 6 Reflection

Based on what I know about technological innovations and what I've read about the history of instructional films, television and the computer I think that the Internet and the World Wide Web will definitely have a major influence and the way that instruction is presented to learners. In the past the instructional films and television did not have a great impact on the methods of instruction, but the Internet and World Wide Web have many more possibilities and have already increased the use of technology for instruction in the classroom. I think the greatest reason for this is the opportunity for interaction. "[Instructional designers having a constructivist perspective] and others who are particularly concerned with presenting authentic (i.e. "real world") problems in learning environments, in which learners have a great deal of control of the activities they engage in and the tools and resources they use, find the new digital technology more accomodating than its predecessors."(p. 23) While they have not been used a great deal as of yet, some of the tools we have learned about thus far in our course are all tools that could impact the future of education. Also, in my classroom our reading program is online and is very beneficial to our students because of the fact that it is so interactive. Not only that, but most of the classrooms in my school, at least in the upper grades, are in the computer lab for research or Kidspiration, which is a program to help with graphic organizers, or other programs on the computer at least once per week. In addition, one teacher has made it her goal to integrate technology into her classroom more this year and she found Teacher Tube online, the educator's version of YouTube (which is blocked at our school) that she has already used several times to enhance her instruction. In conclusion, I think that the Internet and the WWW has already started to make a difference in the K-12 education system and as technology continues to evolve and teachers receive more training they will continue to make an even greater impact.

Google Map of Gull Lake Ministries

This is a map of the camp that I worked at for two summers along the shores of beautiful Gull Lake.


View Larger Map

You Tube Video

This is a music video that one of my friends did for a cover contest. You should check it out. It's very good.

Image Post

My sister and I with her dog last Christmas.

Week 5 Reflection

I think that online photo journals are a great tool. I know that I follow them to stay updated on new things that are happening in the lives of my friends and family who I do not see often, as well as use it as a way to keep them updated on my life. However, I think they are better left for personal use. I am a little leery of using them in the educational setting because of all the problems that have come about in recent years that have gotten students in trouble because of pictures that have been found on websites and also because they are made so public. I can see these being abused very easily and could potentially get the students or the teacher in a lot of trouble. If I were to use them in a classroom setting. I would restrict the students to putting up only pictures of objects and scenery and would not allow pictures of people. That way most problems could be avoided. I could see them being used as a science journal, especially if nature was the topic being studied. The class could post pictures of different scientific processes that they are observing in nature. I could also see it as a fun way to tell a personal narrative, but again that would probably involve posting pictures of people. If there is a way so that only the class could see it, this could be a fun way to write a short story about a vacation or something else that has happened in their life. Thus far, this is probably the tool I would be least likely to use in my classroom.

I found many similarities to the instructional design method of preparing lessons as compared to the methods that I have previously used. In my undergraduate classes these steps were drilled into us. All the key components are there, with a few different terms used, including writing a goal and objective for the lesson, preparing materials needed for the lesson, stating what method the students will be assessed with and how the information will be delivered. The biggest thing that is included in the ID method that is not in a typical lesson plan is the fact that it their instructional delivery is usually done as a team effort, something not common in most classrooms. Also, when using instructional design nearly all of their methods of evaluation are hands on. This is not always possible in a typical classroom because some assessments call for a pencil and paper, multiple choice, short answer, essay test. As a teacher I would prefer all assessments to be hands on, but that does not always make the most sense, depending on what is being assessed.
A few things that they do not mention is looking at state standards when writing an objective and also the potential need for adaptations and modifications if there is a student requiring these things. I know that these aren't done for every lesson nor does every teacher have students needing modifications, but they are things to consider. Overall, I found the ID process of developing lesson plans to be very thorough and a solid method.

My Photo Site

http://www.flickr.com/photos/31051599@N08/

Hope you all enjoy a few pictures of my trip to Colorado this summer:)

Week 4 Reflection on Social Bookmarking and Chapter 1

I really enjoyed playing around with the social bookmarking tool on delicious.com. To me, I would compare it to the favorites list you may have bookmarked on your Internet Explorer browser, but with the addition of tagging. The tagging, in my opinion, is what makes this a valuable tool. I was able to find some sites that would be useful for me in the classroom much more quickly than if I had used a search engine. I think that it does a better job of weeding out sites that are not as useful or relevant to the search and then you are able to save the sites that are what you are looking for.
I think this is a great way for teachers to share lesson plans and sites that have tips for teaching. I was able to find some ideas for the fall theme that I am doing in my classroom right now by searching the tags. I also think that teachers could use this to bookmark sites for their students when doing a research project so that the students search process is cut down by a lot. Also, this would ensure the teachers that their students are using reliable sources. For example, if the students are doing a project in a science class on the different systems in the human body the teacher could bookmark various sites on these systems that would be helpful to them. The students still need to dig through and find their specific information, but don't need to go through all the web sites that are nonreliable.
As far as the reading in Trends and Issues, I found it to be helpful to read some definitions on what it is we've been learning about for the last several weeks. I've worked in classrooms where technology has been integrated a great deal, including the use of palms and linking the computer to a projector so that the teacher is able to show websites on a larger screen, so my view was broader than simply instructional media. However, over the course of this class thus far I've realized there's a lot I have yet to learn. I had never thought of instructional technology as being a process, but really it makes sense because education itself is a process. I liked how they've included that in the definition. Another thing that I had not thought about was the noninstructional solutions. I'm still a little unclear about how these fit in. The progression of the definition as time went on was interesting too and it very much reflected the advancements of technology. I didn't see anything missing in the current definition, however this is still a topic that I am still learning about, therefore making it more difficult to spot missing pieces. Perhaps as the semester progresses I may feel different, but I do think the definition seems to be quite thorough for the present day including what I would consider the main points of this field.

My Delicious Site

http://delicious.com/KCorstange

Reflections on the Wiki

I found the Wiki to be very user friendly. I can see where it would be frustrating if you had trouble logging in, but I think creating and editing were not too difficult to figure out. My partners made it very easy to collaborate together and they both spurred on ideas to make our final product turn out well. I enjoyed using the Wiki because it was a new and different way to do a group project. I found it to be a really handy way to collaborate, because it provided a way to communicate with one another and allow each person to add their own input. I also like that wikis are more private than a blog so that you don't need to worry quite as much about what you are posting.
I could see these being used in a similar way in the K-12 educational setting. Students could collaborate on a research project and each post their findings and edit their group members information as well. They could also link to their sources or terminology. The population of students that I work with would probably not understand how to set up a Wiki, but it would be a handy place to link to different web sites that we use in our classroom on a regular basis. That way they would not have to worry about typing in the web sites. Really, the possibilities are endless. Teachers could get very creative as to how to use a wiki in their classroom for many different purposes.

Of Luddites, Learning, and Life versus The Case for Technology Transformation

The articles by Postman and Reigeluth present a great dichotomy of views of technology. Postman is very much opposed to technological advancements while Reigeluth is highly in favor of it. I find myself falling somewhere in the middle of these two viewpoints.
Postman states that new technology has “nothing whatever to do with the fundamental problems we have to solve in schooling our young.” He goes on further to say that education is not exclusively academic, but rather learning how to behave socially. I could not agree more with this statement. When a student leaves their schooling career it is not very realistic or likely that they will remember the difference between a metaphor and a simile or theorems used to solve a geometry proof, but rather the relational lessons they learned from their peers. In this regard I can see where Postman makes a valid point in calling technology a “distraction.” I really believe that many of our youth are losing the ability to relate to their peers without the use of technology; they are constantly hiding behind the computer screen or their cell phone. I am not trying to say that these methods of communication are not valuable, but we should not rely on them for our sole means to communicate with each other. Not only that, but I think that many students use technology as a crutch and do not know how to do basic skills, such as addition or subtraction or writing a letter, without the use of technology.
I do, however, believe that he is incorrect in saying that technology needs to solve a problem in order to have use and value. Technology has made great advancements for our society and has not necessarily solved a problem, but it has enhanced our way of living. Whether he wants to admit it or not technology has improved the convenience of our lives as well as the efficiency and it is here to stay.
On the other hand Reigeluth takes a different viewpoint saying that “technology can transform the way we teach,” but also that to date it “has had minimal impact in K-12 education in the United States.” Part of this is because many teachers are not equipped on how it can transform the way we teach and I also think it is because many schools do not have the monetary resources for the latest technology. I think that technology can be a great tool in the classroom, when used in the right way, to present information in a new way, to make use of virtual field trips just to name a few. Not only that, but it does make learning more exciting for the students because it is something that they can relate to, seeing that it is such a large part of their world. I am sure that technology use in the classroom and will only continue to increase as time passes; I just hope that educators use it in a way to better the students’ education.
One other point that Reigeluth makes that I see as very important is that we cannot rely only on technology. I am firm believer that peer learning and cooperative learning are very effective methods of learning. It has always been said that if you can teach someone else, then you have a firm grasp on the material. Not only that, but technology cannot replace the teacher. The reading curriculum that my students use is from an internet program on headsprout.com and while it is good because it is repetitive and makes things very visually stimulating, both key things for my students with autism. It is not, however, a foolproof way of monitoring the progress of my students because they have figured out how to trick the system, by simply clicking when necessary and they pass through, thus fooling the computer into thinking that they have mastered that level. So you see that the students still need a lot of monitoring. While they should theoretically be able to do this independently, a teacher is still needed for additional teaching. Not only that, but it is hard for them to recognize the same words in other settings. Sometimes doing things the old fashioned way is not such a bad thing, because while technology is a marvelous tool, it does not take away the way that a good feelings that you get when you think about your favorite teacher.