Here are some websites that some may find useful for using smartboards and airliners:
http://smarttech.com/trainingcenter/tutorials.asp
http://ilt.camden.k12.ga.us/documents/Technology/Smartboard/airlinerqr.pdf
If you type smartboard into a google search, there are a number of quick hits right off the bat which include short videos on how to use them and (yes) even podcasts on how to use smartboards.
Cheers,
Dan
Monday, June 1, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
What is my personal style?
Understanding one's personal style is important to knowing how and what type of presentation technology to use.
My style is relaxed, good use of humour. The rapport in the classroom is based on trust, but we still have our distinct roles. I am still the teacher.
I use the chalkboard quite a bit. A quick sketch can enhance a student's understanding of a topic. It may not be as technically correct as a photograph or a slide show. But even a badly drawn sketch can be funny and add to the atmosphere in the class.
Interestingly enough, I have a student who is allergic to chalk.
I like to use technology in the classroom, but to augment what I am doing or saying, not to replace me as the teacher. I have one film that I show about the island of Crete, but I mute the volume and do all the speaking myself. I emphasize different points than the original voice actor.
I stop films all the time to emphasize what students are looking at. I have a number of powerpoint presentations, but they are mostly pictures and I provide the narrative.
Student centred learning is very important. Inquiry models, group research, debates, culminating activities, are all ways for students to learn on their own. This is directed learning because we give them skills and direction and the students find things out on their own.
The key is to vary the style and the form of delivery. Seatwork, games (Latin pictionary), puzzles etc. are all very good. I do have students present fairly often. In Junior Latin class they must present with some form of AV (does not need to be computer or ppt.) In CHW3M1 (world history to the 16th century) the students will do one 2 min presentation (oral, no AV), one 5 min presentation (oral, more polished, a photo of a famous person). One 5 min presentation with limited AV. One 15 min presentation with complete AV.
At no time do I require students to use presentation software. Students may present in skits, interviews, formally, or other ways (films).
But many students opt to use ppt. because it is relatively easy to master and can produce nice results.
Over the last several years I have kept a number of student presentations because many are quite good. I have also been putting some more complicated lessons onto .ppt so that they will save me time in class in the long run (less prep, less time at the board, clearer presentation.
A chief concern is whether changing technology will make some of my hard work obsolete in the future.
For now this is my style.
Cheers,
Dan
My style is relaxed, good use of humour. The rapport in the classroom is based on trust, but we still have our distinct roles. I am still the teacher.
I use the chalkboard quite a bit. A quick sketch can enhance a student's understanding of a topic. It may not be as technically correct as a photograph or a slide show. But even a badly drawn sketch can be funny and add to the atmosphere in the class.
Interestingly enough, I have a student who is allergic to chalk.
I like to use technology in the classroom, but to augment what I am doing or saying, not to replace me as the teacher. I have one film that I show about the island of Crete, but I mute the volume and do all the speaking myself. I emphasize different points than the original voice actor.
I stop films all the time to emphasize what students are looking at. I have a number of powerpoint presentations, but they are mostly pictures and I provide the narrative.
Student centred learning is very important. Inquiry models, group research, debates, culminating activities, are all ways for students to learn on their own. This is directed learning because we give them skills and direction and the students find things out on their own.
The key is to vary the style and the form of delivery. Seatwork, games (Latin pictionary), puzzles etc. are all very good. I do have students present fairly often. In Junior Latin class they must present with some form of AV (does not need to be computer or ppt.) In CHW3M1 (world history to the 16th century) the students will do one 2 min presentation (oral, no AV), one 5 min presentation (oral, more polished, a photo of a famous person). One 5 min presentation with limited AV. One 15 min presentation with complete AV.
At no time do I require students to use presentation software. Students may present in skits, interviews, formally, or other ways (films).
But many students opt to use ppt. because it is relatively easy to master and can produce nice results.
Over the last several years I have kept a number of student presentations because many are quite good. I have also been putting some more complicated lessons onto .ppt so that they will save me time in class in the long run (less prep, less time at the board, clearer presentation.
A chief concern is whether changing technology will make some of my hard work obsolete in the future.
For now this is my style.
Cheers,
Dan
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
More on Digital Photography
When we think about digital cameras, most of us think still photos. But Peter has reminded us that many cameras now can take video. My Nikon D90 (yes I am bragging) can take up to 5 min of straight digital video.
Digital video can be invaluable in phys-ed class to capture movements of athletes. Skiers, gymnasts, baseball batters, track and field javelin throwers can all benefit from a minute of video capturing their movements. Most will deny that they have done anything wrong. But show them the video.....
And since our project is about how students can use cameras, you can have the students do the taping.
How about in language arts class? Have students tape each other during mini presentations. A student may not be aware that they have said "um...er....okay" a thousand times during a presentation. But when you play it back they cannot deny the evidence. This helps to build better public speakers.
In Geography class: have the students plan routes where all the major turns are illustrated with photographs of the intersections. Students take the pictures.
For Drama/construction class: have the students build sets for the school play and get the students to take pictures of relevant buildings for inspiration and ideas.
For media arts: story board before a film is made. Have the students make the storyboard with digital still photos.
For media arts and language arts: have the students make a mini film (some editing required). For some students this option is FAR preferable to actually standing in front of the class. And if they demonstrate their expectations in a mini-film.....do they need to present in person?
In Latin/ancient history class: Have students take pictures of buildings which have classical/neo-classical architecture. Or pictures of statues.
In history class: have students take photos of historic sites/landmarks. Have students do a photo essay of the battle of queenston heights or the battle of chippewa creek.
In family studies classes, have students do research using digital photography into restaurant layouts, ergonomics, and effective seating. Compare menu layouts. How about fashion? Have the students put on a fashion show (remember to get permission for photographing students).
How about fun-photography. Take pictues of the back of teachers' heads and have a fund raiser to see who can guess the most heads. Or how about teachers' shoes. Do the same with students' shoes or backpacks.
Cheers,
Dan
Monday, May 11, 2009
Digital Photography
As a teacher of history, I can think of incredible uses for digital photography (my own and other photos).
I incorporate slides routinely into power point presentations showing things from around the ancient world. Having travelled through the Mediterranean several times, I now have quite a library of things to show the students. Some of my photos are "artsy", but many are of wierd things . . . things that you will not find pictures of when searching online. I photograph pieces of temples, individual blocks, individual vases, items in musuems (when allowed), roads, sewer covers (SPQR in Rome), street and shop signs (Latin based), obelisks, writing on temples, grafitti and other things which are not splashy enough to make it into most web pages. But these items are relevant enough to show students. All are related to expectations, but many photos are cute and quirky, interresting but bizarre. And they often illustrate things from a peculiar angle or perspective to mesh with my lesson.
Take for expample close-up shots of the entrance to the acropolis in Athens...much restoration....
Or photos from the British Museum showing scouring marks on a metope panel. Hard to find shots of these things online.
Cheers,
Dan
I incorporate slides routinely into power point presentations showing things from around the ancient world. Having travelled through the Mediterranean several times, I now have quite a library of things to show the students. Some of my photos are "artsy", but many are of wierd things . . . things that you will not find pictures of when searching online. I photograph pieces of temples, individual blocks, individual vases, items in musuems (when allowed), roads, sewer covers (SPQR in Rome), street and shop signs (Latin based), obelisks, writing on temples, grafitti and other things which are not splashy enough to make it into most web pages. But these items are relevant enough to show students. All are related to expectations, but many photos are cute and quirky, interresting but bizarre. And they often illustrate things from a peculiar angle or perspective to mesh with my lesson.
Take for expample close-up shots of the entrance to the acropolis in Athens...much restoration....
Or photos from the British Museum showing scouring marks on a metope panel. Hard to find shots of these things online.
Cheers,
Dan
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
A response
http://www.parentcentral.ca/parent/article/626067
On April 29 Kristin Rushowy wrote the article above. The gist is that we need to get more technology into classrooms. Quotes from Howard Goodman (hmmm ... who used to own a software company) are used to support this premise.
I think we need to put the brakes on a wee bit and examine the real issues. What I have seen happen is this:
Someone who is computer proficient comes up with a zany way to teach a skill or a lesson and then they suggest that all teachers should do it their way. This is...well...it is silly. If someone is trying to put forth a hypothesis or a premise that students learn better when using technology, I think they need to give their head a shake.
On the contrary, I would be prepared to make an argument that technology is not used efficiently and that dollar-for-dollar, hour-for-hour, lessons using technology actually achieve less in many instances than a chalk-talk in a classroom.
More computers will not make students smarter. More computers will not "reach" students better. The article suggests that cheap laptops can make text books obsolete. What? Even if you can get a computer cheaply, can you find all of the material in the textbook online? Maybe, but who is going to find it? And the activities and exercises? Who is going to look them up? And what happens when those links become obsolete? Who is going to update them? The teacher?
Who is the do-good techno wizard that is suggesting that teachers should now invest ridiculous amounts of time to search for relevant stuff online when it is easily contained in a book? Have you ever dropped a lap-top? I haven't, but I have surely dropped a book or two. What happens when students smash or spill pop on their expensive laptops? It is more expensive to replace than a book. Who replaces the lap-top? The parents? Parents are not happy when they have to replace a $40.00 lost book. How will they feel when you ask them to replace a lap-top? Or do you devalue the lap-top because it was used.
Or how about this: we use texts for more than 10 years. That $500.00 lap-top will not last 10 years. The software will be out of date in 5 and will need upgrading or replacing. So it is not really a $500.00 lap-top. It is $500 + + +.
So please. Let's not smile and pretend that this is that when it is not. Some schools (mostly private) do have one laptop per student, but the parents also pay a ridiculous amount of money to send those kids to those schools.
There are many things that we do with computers that take up unnecessary time. Consider the average power point presentation. All text. How many of these have you sat through? Tonnes. But the amount of time that it took to put that presentation together is often a waste. Add some colour and some animation. Heck, it would be faster to simply print it and tell me to read it. Power point is one of the most misused programs around. Period. But it takes time to learn and time to present. And that time could be spent learning other skills.
I have a vocabulary program called centaur software (read below another blog about it). It is good. But honestly it is a bit of a pain. And, there is little that I can accomplish with the program that I could not accomplish with cue cards. In fact, one of the most fun (funnest) activities that I do with my students is to have them do a vocabulary contest with pictionary. We use nothing more than chalk, the chalkboard, and a bell. Dollar-for-dollar it is highly effective and it is incredibly cheap.
Have you ever seen a teacher with a new smart board? Spending hours and hours on a lesson which could be taught in 5 minutes?
Now don't get me wrong. This is not about being anti-technology. It is about being prudent, financially responsible, and effective. We need teachers who are dynamic and creative. We need them to engage students. Let's be honest, this is often best done with games, activities, contests, and an animated classroom. You do NOT need technology to engage kids.
The key to technology, I think, is to use it in a way to level-up the students. Use it in effective ways to teach them things that they may not get in other ways. Use technology for variety and for challenge. Use programs which are unique and which accomplish things more efficiently (how about differentiated instruction?) A program can give 30 students feedback faster than you can walk around the room.
So there is a time and a place for technology. Teachers need to engage the technology just like we engage our students.
The first moderated comment suggests that because we do not hand in hand-written resumes we need more technology in the classroom. This is...again...silly. People didn't hand in hand-written resumes before computers were even invented. So the apparent relationship between technology which we use and the imperative to use it in the classroom is a false premise. It is kind of like my hydro company encouraging me to take receipt of an e-bill instead of a paper bill. They claim it is to help the environment. But who is kidding whom. It is about cost. The fewer bills they mail, the more money they will make. I haven't checked, but I reckon they are not giving money to salvage the environment from all of the paper bills that they produce.
So let's keep focussed on the real issues. There is a real need to educate students about technology. We need to protect them. We need to teach them how to research. We need to teach them how to communicate effectively. We need to teach them how to present. And among all that we can find games and fun activities. But it is not an all-or-nothing gambit. It is not a case of all technology vs no technology. The trick is to find the most effective balance. I take books camping and I read books in my floating chair in the pool. I'm not sure that a text-book-less environment serves everyone the best.
Cheers,
Dan
On April 29 Kristin Rushowy wrote the article above. The gist is that we need to get more technology into classrooms. Quotes from Howard Goodman (hmmm ... who used to own a software company) are used to support this premise.
I think we need to put the brakes on a wee bit and examine the real issues. What I have seen happen is this:
Someone who is computer proficient comes up with a zany way to teach a skill or a lesson and then they suggest that all teachers should do it their way. This is...well...it is silly. If someone is trying to put forth a hypothesis or a premise that students learn better when using technology, I think they need to give their head a shake.
On the contrary, I would be prepared to make an argument that technology is not used efficiently and that dollar-for-dollar, hour-for-hour, lessons using technology actually achieve less in many instances than a chalk-talk in a classroom.
More computers will not make students smarter. More computers will not "reach" students better. The article suggests that cheap laptops can make text books obsolete. What? Even if you can get a computer cheaply, can you find all of the material in the textbook online? Maybe, but who is going to find it? And the activities and exercises? Who is going to look them up? And what happens when those links become obsolete? Who is going to update them? The teacher?
Who is the do-good techno wizard that is suggesting that teachers should now invest ridiculous amounts of time to search for relevant stuff online when it is easily contained in a book? Have you ever dropped a lap-top? I haven't, but I have surely dropped a book or two. What happens when students smash or spill pop on their expensive laptops? It is more expensive to replace than a book. Who replaces the lap-top? The parents? Parents are not happy when they have to replace a $40.00 lost book. How will they feel when you ask them to replace a lap-top? Or do you devalue the lap-top because it was used.
Or how about this: we use texts for more than 10 years. That $500.00 lap-top will not last 10 years. The software will be out of date in 5 and will need upgrading or replacing. So it is not really a $500.00 lap-top. It is $500 + + +.
So please. Let's not smile and pretend that this is that when it is not. Some schools (mostly private) do have one laptop per student, but the parents also pay a ridiculous amount of money to send those kids to those schools.
There are many things that we do with computers that take up unnecessary time. Consider the average power point presentation. All text. How many of these have you sat through? Tonnes. But the amount of time that it took to put that presentation together is often a waste. Add some colour and some animation. Heck, it would be faster to simply print it and tell me to read it. Power point is one of the most misused programs around. Period. But it takes time to learn and time to present. And that time could be spent learning other skills.
I have a vocabulary program called centaur software (read below another blog about it). It is good. But honestly it is a bit of a pain. And, there is little that I can accomplish with the program that I could not accomplish with cue cards. In fact, one of the most fun (funnest) activities that I do with my students is to have them do a vocabulary contest with pictionary. We use nothing more than chalk, the chalkboard, and a bell. Dollar-for-dollar it is highly effective and it is incredibly cheap.
Have you ever seen a teacher with a new smart board? Spending hours and hours on a lesson which could be taught in 5 minutes?
Now don't get me wrong. This is not about being anti-technology. It is about being prudent, financially responsible, and effective. We need teachers who are dynamic and creative. We need them to engage students. Let's be honest, this is often best done with games, activities, contests, and an animated classroom. You do NOT need technology to engage kids.
The key to technology, I think, is to use it in a way to level-up the students. Use it in effective ways to teach them things that they may not get in other ways. Use technology for variety and for challenge. Use programs which are unique and which accomplish things more efficiently (how about differentiated instruction?) A program can give 30 students feedback faster than you can walk around the room.
So there is a time and a place for technology. Teachers need to engage the technology just like we engage our students.
The first moderated comment suggests that because we do not hand in hand-written resumes we need more technology in the classroom. This is...again...silly. People didn't hand in hand-written resumes before computers were even invented. So the apparent relationship between technology which we use and the imperative to use it in the classroom is a false premise. It is kind of like my hydro company encouraging me to take receipt of an e-bill instead of a paper bill. They claim it is to help the environment. But who is kidding whom. It is about cost. The fewer bills they mail, the more money they will make. I haven't checked, but I reckon they are not giving money to salvage the environment from all of the paper bills that they produce.
So let's keep focussed on the real issues. There is a real need to educate students about technology. We need to protect them. We need to teach them how to research. We need to teach them how to communicate effectively. We need to teach them how to present. And among all that we can find games and fun activities. But it is not an all-or-nothing gambit. It is not a case of all technology vs no technology. The trick is to find the most effective balance. I take books camping and I read books in my floating chair in the pool. I'm not sure that a text-book-less environment serves everyone the best.
Cheers,
Dan
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Researching Podcasts
Well there is no shortage of stuff on podcasts out there, that is for sure.
Here is another list of things that teachers can do with Podcasts:
responses to literature
role play with different voices (like a Simpsons episode)
interviews
book talks (critiques of novels, movies, music
poetry sharing
school news
speeches
reading of creative writing
web reviews
world news
jokes
advertisements
persuade someone to join a group
I'd like to take a moment to talk about advertising. I used to teach an English media course under the old curriculum and it involved quite a bit dealing with advertising. English courses have mandated media units and so advertising fits in nicely. It also works with entrepreneurship (spelling?) classes and even philosophy. When I teach logic, I always start with advertising, because it is something that the students are readily able to identify with. Podcasts can be a nice way to explore advertising and logic.
In addition to Audacity software that has already been mentioned, there is a product called Garageband that may also be used.
One nice website that I found is:
http://chatt.hdsb.ca/~magps/boylit/Podcasting%20in%20Education
It includes links to many useful supplementary sites, links to get audacity software and it includes checklists for teachers to follow before staring a podcast in their classroom.
Another useful site I found was:
http://www.shambles.net/pages/learning/infolit/edupodcast/#topofpage
There are a number of links on this page, but I also found that not all of the links worked, so you must look around.
Cheers,
Dan
Here is another list of things that teachers can do with Podcasts:
responses to literature
role play with different voices (like a Simpsons episode)
interviews
book talks (critiques of novels, movies, music
poetry sharing
school news
speeches
reading of creative writing
web reviews
world news
jokes
advertisements
persuade someone to join a group
I'd like to take a moment to talk about advertising. I used to teach an English media course under the old curriculum and it involved quite a bit dealing with advertising. English courses have mandated media units and so advertising fits in nicely. It also works with entrepreneurship (spelling?) classes and even philosophy. When I teach logic, I always start with advertising, because it is something that the students are readily able to identify with. Podcasts can be a nice way to explore advertising and logic.
In addition to Audacity software that has already been mentioned, there is a product called Garageband that may also be used.
One nice website that I found is:
http://chatt.hdsb.ca/~magps/boylit/Podcasting%20in%20Education
It includes links to many useful supplementary sites, links to get audacity software and it includes checklists for teachers to follow before staring a podcast in their classroom.
Another useful site I found was:
http://www.shambles.net/pages/learning/infolit/edupodcast/#topofpage
There are a number of links on this page, but I also found that not all of the links worked, so you must look around.
Cheers,
Dan
Monday, April 27, 2009
on PODCASTs
First of all, I'd like to credit the source that I used for much of this post.
Joe Dale is a teacher on the Isle of Wight. See www.joedale.typepad.com
So what are the benefits of podcasts? Why use them in the classroom. There are many sites online which discuss this question. Some are...well...fuzzy. One New Zealand teacher suggests that it shows students' "true potential"....whatever that means. I think this is somewhat of a non-statement in that it pretty well means whatever you want it to mean. I recall a book on logic that I read once:
A writer says, "The most discerning people subscribe to XXX magazine." What do we mean by "discerning" here? What kind of person would make such a statement?.... the most discerning type. It is somewhat of a meaningless, yet self-fulfilling statement.
***rant off***
Anyhow, audio publishing allows a wide variety to subsribe to content. Accessibility is granted through computers and where our students are concerned, through their MP3 players.
Podcasts can:
Students can access the files anywhere. They can listen on the bus, while they walk the dog, doing the dishes, walking to or from school. They can also repeat the podcast if they need to listen to it again. Some students will find it more relaxing and easier than reading.
For students who are recording, rehearsals are essential. While they sound very very easy to make, they will be more successful with additional planning. Some teachers find that students are more self critical when they put together podcasts....more self critical than they would be than if they were handing in a written essay.
The larger (and potential) international audience is appealing. Now people can actually take guitar lessons online from podcasts which might otherwise cost hundreds of dollars. And much content is available for free.
This is an inexpensive way to broadcast which doesn't require all of the additional equipment and/or considerations which accompany an actual film.
Cheers,
Dan
Joe Dale is a teacher on the Isle of Wight. See www.joedale.typepad.com
So what are the benefits of podcasts? Why use them in the classroom. There are many sites online which discuss this question. Some are...well...fuzzy. One New Zealand teacher suggests that it shows students' "true potential"....whatever that means. I think this is somewhat of a non-statement in that it pretty well means whatever you want it to mean. I recall a book on logic that I read once:
A writer says, "The most discerning people subscribe to XXX magazine." What do we mean by "discerning" here? What kind of person would make such a statement?.... the most discerning type. It is somewhat of a meaningless, yet self-fulfilling statement.
***rant off***
Anyhow, audio publishing allows a wide variety to subsribe to content. Accessibility is granted through computers and where our students are concerned, through their MP3 players.
Podcasts can:
- promote creativity
- be shared with a real audience
- encourage active listening
- scripting helps with written work
- team scripting helps with team work
- provides an outlet for shy students who will not stand up in front of a class
Students can access the files anywhere. They can listen on the bus, while they walk the dog, doing the dishes, walking to or from school. They can also repeat the podcast if they need to listen to it again. Some students will find it more relaxing and easier than reading.
For students who are recording, rehearsals are essential. While they sound very very easy to make, they will be more successful with additional planning. Some teachers find that students are more self critical when they put together podcasts....more self critical than they would be than if they were handing in a written essay.
The larger (and potential) international audience is appealing. Now people can actually take guitar lessons online from podcasts which might otherwise cost hundreds of dollars. And much content is available for free.
This is an inexpensive way to broadcast which doesn't require all of the additional equipment and/or considerations which accompany an actual film.
Cheers,
Dan
Monday, April 20, 2009
News over Easter
On the Easter weekend, CTV news aired a broadcast where a news reporter interviewed a high school principal, a university “lecturer”, and some sort of a psychologist. All were lamenting how unprepared students are for post secondary school.
Interestingly, none of them really focussed on the Wikipedia generation. They discussed values and upbringing, work habits and discipline. The one thing they did suggest is that students nowadays live in a “NOW” generation where they have SOOOO much information available at their fingertips that it creates bad habits. It creates sloppy research habits, laziness, and carelessness. (consider spelling in the average email…)
More frequently cited in the interview was the direction taken by the ministry and the boards (as they take their direction from the ministry). It was felt by the panellists that high schools are moving to a “no-fail” system. Students may have multiple chances to pass things that they fail. Students who do fail something need not repeat the entire course, but only re-do that portion which they failed. No late marks in many schools. Countless opportunities to hand in work. These are the real things that the panellists felt were detrimental to learning of our youth.
I expected more attacks on computers, games, wikipedia, etc., but it was not forthcoming.
Cheers,
Dan
Interestingly, none of them really focussed on the Wikipedia generation. They discussed values and upbringing, work habits and discipline. The one thing they did suggest is that students nowadays live in a “NOW” generation where they have SOOOO much information available at their fingertips that it creates bad habits. It creates sloppy research habits, laziness, and carelessness. (consider spelling in the average email…)
More frequently cited in the interview was the direction taken by the ministry and the boards (as they take their direction from the ministry). It was felt by the panellists that high schools are moving to a “no-fail” system. Students may have multiple chances to pass things that they fail. Students who do fail something need not repeat the entire course, but only re-do that portion which they failed. No late marks in many schools. Countless opportunities to hand in work. These are the real things that the panellists felt were detrimental to learning of our youth.
I expected more attacks on computers, games, wikipedia, etc., but it was not forthcoming.
Cheers,
Dan
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Let's talk about Power Point
One article mentioned how the misuse of computer resources could be a black-hole. I completely agree with this sentiment and one of the biggest wastes of time can be powerpoint presentations. You've all seen them. You know what they look like. And we ALL know that many presenters are HOOKED on power point. They use it when it is not necessary, they break all the rules (text too small, too much text, talk to screen, read their own slides, distracting animation, clutter, noise, etc)
In many circles it is an expectation that powerpoint is a necessary part of a presentation. This is patently silly. A decent power point, with animation, some colour, a few pictures can take hours to make. The investment in time is rarely worth the effort to create it. Some teachers require students to prepare presentations on power point and this costs the students hours of time. Sadly, often teachers themselves misuse the program and so are not really in any position to lecture students about its proper use.
A friend of mine who is a surgeon at Kingston General hospital told me that powerpoints are banned from all staff meetings. They take too long to make, they (often) add very little to their professional discussion. They require expensive equipment and time to set up.
Now there is a time and a place for power point. If used properly it can be a powerful tool. I use it for art history lessons where I want to put up slides of vases and Roman temples. But the presentation has NO text. I do all the talking and control the pace of the presentation.
I do a hieroglyphs presentation using powerpoint because it would be too time-consuming to draw all the hieroglyphs on the board during a lesson.
Sometimes, using some animation, I can piece together a puzzle or show how things should be assembled like sentences, clauses etc. But honestly, powerpoint slides full of text are not the best way to go. The technology is excellent, but as many of us have already said, we need to use it properly or we will waste our time.
On one of my last army courses we were encouraged to use powerpoint to show battle maps. So students spent hours putting military symbols onto maps. I accomplished the same amount of clarity using a white board and about 2 minutes of drawing. Pretty is not always better. Fancy is not always clearer.
There is a video of a stand-up comic who mocks powerpoint and all the misuses that people succumb to. Go to youtube and type "how not to use powerpoint" It is hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cagxPlVqrtM
Cheers,
Dan
In many circles it is an expectation that powerpoint is a necessary part of a presentation. This is patently silly. A decent power point, with animation, some colour, a few pictures can take hours to make. The investment in time is rarely worth the effort to create it. Some teachers require students to prepare presentations on power point and this costs the students hours of time. Sadly, often teachers themselves misuse the program and so are not really in any position to lecture students about its proper use.
A friend of mine who is a surgeon at Kingston General hospital told me that powerpoints are banned from all staff meetings. They take too long to make, they (often) add very little to their professional discussion. They require expensive equipment and time to set up.
Now there is a time and a place for power point. If used properly it can be a powerful tool. I use it for art history lessons where I want to put up slides of vases and Roman temples. But the presentation has NO text. I do all the talking and control the pace of the presentation.
I do a hieroglyphs presentation using powerpoint because it would be too time-consuming to draw all the hieroglyphs on the board during a lesson.
Sometimes, using some animation, I can piece together a puzzle or show how things should be assembled like sentences, clauses etc. But honestly, powerpoint slides full of text are not the best way to go. The technology is excellent, but as many of us have already said, we need to use it properly or we will waste our time.
On one of my last army courses we were encouraged to use powerpoint to show battle maps. So students spent hours putting military symbols onto maps. I accomplished the same amount of clarity using a white board and about 2 minutes of drawing. Pretty is not always better. Fancy is not always clearer.
There is a video of a stand-up comic who mocks powerpoint and all the misuses that people succumb to. Go to youtube and type "how not to use powerpoint" It is hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cagxPlVqrtM
Cheers,
Dan
On Wikipedia
I think that Wikipedia gets a bad rap too often. We have all heard of the instances where a teacher creates a fake wikipedia entry and some student cites it as a source in an essay. Wikipedia also has errors, but so does Encylcopedia Britannica (which students are encouraged to use). In fact, you can type Errors in Encyclopedia Britannica into Wikipedia and you will get pages and pages of errors.This is not to say that we should encourage students to use wikipedia indiscriminantly. It does have its limitations.
It is unedited. Yeah Yeah, it is edited by other users, but not by professionals with credentials and so your wikipedia entry may be altered by a 10 year old.
Seondly, wikipedia does not have entries for all kinds of topics. If it is not popular enough to get someone to write an entry, it doesn't exist.
Thirdly, wikipedia does not know how to deal with sensitive or controversial topics. If you examine the Yom Kippur war or any of the Israeli conflicts, you will see that Arabs and Israelis are constantly trying to change the tone of the page by "spinning" things in their own favour.
All this said, the site does contain a lot of decent information. I encourage students to use the site to get started and then to switch to more reputable sources. For the record, I tell the students not to use any encyclopedia as a source, Britannica or otherwise. They are all superficial sources.
So maybe we need to cool our jets on the use of wikipedia. It has its limitations, but also has good uses. Let's be honest now. How many of us use it regularly too. I bet the number is quite high.
I have found that doing research on some topics is becoming increasingly difficult. First of all, as we know, the sites that appear first in Google are sites that pay for the privilege of coming high on the list. Many of those sites are marketing sites, but many more are book sites ie. buy my book.
So if you type for example, "blog impair literacy" into your google search window, many of the top hits are sites which sell books or political sites that you have to subscribe to. The internet isn't as free as it once was. Wikipedia is usually near the top of the list. Google also allows stupid things to happen. Sometimes you will type, "dammit it's hot out" into a google search window and the first hit back is from ebay saying, "Buy dammit it's hot out NOW on ebay."
People have rightly learned that the web can be used for commerce and they are jigging it in such a way that many of our search attempts return sales sites first.
It just makes research skills more important for the student in the classroom.
Cheers,Dan
It is unedited. Yeah Yeah, it is edited by other users, but not by professionals with credentials and so your wikipedia entry may be altered by a 10 year old.
Seondly, wikipedia does not have entries for all kinds of topics. If it is not popular enough to get someone to write an entry, it doesn't exist.
Thirdly, wikipedia does not know how to deal with sensitive or controversial topics. If you examine the Yom Kippur war or any of the Israeli conflicts, you will see that Arabs and Israelis are constantly trying to change the tone of the page by "spinning" things in their own favour.
All this said, the site does contain a lot of decent information. I encourage students to use the site to get started and then to switch to more reputable sources. For the record, I tell the students not to use any encyclopedia as a source, Britannica or otherwise. They are all superficial sources.
So maybe we need to cool our jets on the use of wikipedia. It has its limitations, but also has good uses. Let's be honest now. How many of us use it regularly too. I bet the number is quite high.
I have found that doing research on some topics is becoming increasingly difficult. First of all, as we know, the sites that appear first in Google are sites that pay for the privilege of coming high on the list. Many of those sites are marketing sites, but many more are book sites ie. buy my book.
So if you type for example, "blog impair literacy" into your google search window, many of the top hits are sites which sell books or political sites that you have to subscribe to. The internet isn't as free as it once was. Wikipedia is usually near the top of the list. Google also allows stupid things to happen. Sometimes you will type, "dammit it's hot out" into a google search window and the first hit back is from ebay saying, "Buy dammit it's hot out NOW on ebay."
People have rightly learned that the web can be used for commerce and they are jigging it in such a way that many of our search attempts return sales sites first.
It just makes research skills more important for the student in the classroom.
Cheers,Dan
Sunday, April 5, 2009
The Perseus Project
One of the challenges of a high school teacher and in particular a teacher of history is to find good and legitimate sources online.
Well there is nothing like a primary source. The Perseus Project by Tufts University is a collection of ancient sources, some in the original language, others in translation. Since I teach Latin, the ones in Latin are useful. But all of the texts in translation are also valuable. The challenge with this site is that it may be too overwhelming for some students. It does have a search capability so that a student doesn't have to read all of Caesar's The Gallic Wars to find references to Vercingetorix. The student can conduct a search.
An excellent resource, but recommended mostly for students in senior grades.
The site is:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cache/perscoll_Greco-Roman.html
Cheers,
Dan
Well there is nothing like a primary source. The Perseus Project by Tufts University is a collection of ancient sources, some in the original language, others in translation. Since I teach Latin, the ones in Latin are useful. But all of the texts in translation are also valuable. The challenge with this site is that it may be too overwhelming for some students. It does have a search capability so that a student doesn't have to read all of Caesar's The Gallic Wars to find references to Vercingetorix. The student can conduct a search.
An excellent resource, but recommended mostly for students in senior grades.
The site is:
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cache/perscoll_Greco-Roman.html
Cheers,
Dan
On the Rosetta Stone
The Rosetta Stone is premier software designed to teach foreign languages. It is used in schools, but often by business personnel as well who want to learn a foreign language.
It has great graphics and wonderful step-by-step lessons. Unfortunately, the program is HUGELY expensive. I have entered into discussions with Rosetta Stone on a couple of occasions and both times their quotes were through the roof.
They do assert that you are getting value for money. But their product for a single lab in my school has been quoted back to me at twice the amount of my departmental annual budget. And that would be a licence for only a single year....I'd have to rebuy the online support again next year, and so on.
Within the school, the program has minor challenges. You do need a lab where all the CD-ROM's work. You need headsets with microphones that work. This means that a teacher has to keep the microphones and hetsets in a box and remove them after the lesson. If these fragile items are kept in a lab, they will be mangled and destroyed. As for the CD-ROM's, this is a challenge. Students abuse them and they do not work. So in any given computer lab at any time, 3 or 4 of the computers may not have workable CD ROM's.
This, by the way, is a perfect reason to support on-line resources and supports. They do depend on an internet connection, but they are not dependent on the disk drives, headsets, USB outlets on a computer which can be damaged. If a student does find good information and needs to save it, they can always email it home.
The bottom line of this post is that Rosetta Stone is an excellent language software product, but it is, for the present, much too expensive to use and unless we can secure sources of private funding our students will never get to use the program in the class.
If someone from Rosetta reads this post, I seriously urge you to consider reducing your prices for classroom settings. I can assure you that if your product is too expensive for our high school, it is too expensive for many high schools too.
Cheers,
Dan
It has great graphics and wonderful step-by-step lessons. Unfortunately, the program is HUGELY expensive. I have entered into discussions with Rosetta Stone on a couple of occasions and both times their quotes were through the roof.
They do assert that you are getting value for money. But their product for a single lab in my school has been quoted back to me at twice the amount of my departmental annual budget. And that would be a licence for only a single year....I'd have to rebuy the online support again next year, and so on.
Within the school, the program has minor challenges. You do need a lab where all the CD-ROM's work. You need headsets with microphones that work. This means that a teacher has to keep the microphones and hetsets in a box and remove them after the lesson. If these fragile items are kept in a lab, they will be mangled and destroyed. As for the CD-ROM's, this is a challenge. Students abuse them and they do not work. So in any given computer lab at any time, 3 or 4 of the computers may not have workable CD ROM's.
This, by the way, is a perfect reason to support on-line resources and supports. They do depend on an internet connection, but they are not dependent on the disk drives, headsets, USB outlets on a computer which can be damaged. If a student does find good information and needs to save it, they can always email it home.
The bottom line of this post is that Rosetta Stone is an excellent language software product, but it is, for the present, much too expensive to use and unless we can secure sources of private funding our students will never get to use the program in the class.
If someone from Rosetta reads this post, I seriously urge you to consider reducing your prices for classroom settings. I can assure you that if your product is too expensive for our high school, it is too expensive for many high schools too.
Cheers,
Dan
Centaur Software in the Latin Classroom
In the Latin Classroom I use the Cambridge Latin Course which is a series of text books. Another company has developed software that goes hand-in-hand with the text books.
The computer program allows students to practice vocabulary, noun forms, verb forms, and other grammar forms and word-endings. For this, the program is pretty good. The programs are actually called "drills" and that is really what they do.
The programs do have some limitations though and they can be very frustrating. First of all, the board will not put the software onto the board server. So when I use it, I have top copy the program onto each and every computer in a lab. That is time consuming. Also, the board can re-image the computers at any given time and when that happens, my program is eliminated and I have to start again. Imagine having to reload your software four times a year.....
Next, the program requires a student to identify words and word-endings exactly. For word endings this is fine, but for vocabulary words, this doesn't always work. The Latin word iubeo means "to order" but it can also mean "to command". If a student writes the wrong one down, the computer will not accept the answer. If a student forgets to write the word "to" the computer will not accept the answer. Now there is a mechanism whereby a teacher can add to the vocabulary choices for given words, but there is a maximum number of entries. But some Latin words can have 6 or more vocabulary meanings. So allowing me to add 3 extra meanings is good, but still doesn't give the students full options. Also, remember how the board can wipe my program off the computer when they reimage the system? I would have to manually walk around and add the additional words, one word at a time to every computer in a lab. And then I could only use that one lab in the school.
Nevertheless, it is a good tool, but it is VERY time consuming for the reasons above and there are entire semesters when I just do not have the energy to reload the computer program - yet again - for my students.
Cheers,
Dan
The computer program allows students to practice vocabulary, noun forms, verb forms, and other grammar forms and word-endings. For this, the program is pretty good. The programs are actually called "drills" and that is really what they do.
The programs do have some limitations though and they can be very frustrating. First of all, the board will not put the software onto the board server. So when I use it, I have top copy the program onto each and every computer in a lab. That is time consuming. Also, the board can re-image the computers at any given time and when that happens, my program is eliminated and I have to start again. Imagine having to reload your software four times a year.....
Next, the program requires a student to identify words and word-endings exactly. For word endings this is fine, but for vocabulary words, this doesn't always work. The Latin word iubeo means "to order" but it can also mean "to command". If a student writes the wrong one down, the computer will not accept the answer. If a student forgets to write the word "to" the computer will not accept the answer. Now there is a mechanism whereby a teacher can add to the vocabulary choices for given words, but there is a maximum number of entries. But some Latin words can have 6 or more vocabulary meanings. So allowing me to add 3 extra meanings is good, but still doesn't give the students full options. Also, remember how the board can wipe my program off the computer when they reimage the system? I would have to manually walk around and add the additional words, one word at a time to every computer in a lab. And then I could only use that one lab in the school.
Nevertheless, it is a good tool, but it is VERY time consuming for the reasons above and there are entire semesters when I just do not have the energy to reload the computer program - yet again - for my students.
Cheers,
Dan
Saturday, April 4, 2009
On "Internet Safety"
I hope I am not the lone nay-sayer, but I shall play the devil's advocate and say that I wasn't particularly impressed with the article. First of all, the article is full of impressive sounding statistics. 49 % say this....10% do that.....etc.
We do not actually know what the total sample size was and so percent statistics actually tell us very little. And, since we do not know the nature of the actual questions, the posted replies may be misleading.
A number of students were asked for personal information and a number gave personal information. Was this from strangers? Perhaps friends asked for a phone number. That could constitute personal information and will skew the results of the survey. I typically participate in any survey that is aksed of me and I usually find glaring flaws in the types, quantity, and nature of the questions.
Here's an example: at my last school, the principal conducted a survey amongst staff. There were about 100 staff at that school. Following the survey, the principal published the results.
RESULT: of the staff who participated, 50% feel that parking is a concern at the school.
Well. That sounds very impressive. 50% is a big number. Until you realize that only 2 staff answered that particular question and so 50% of those who "participated" is only 1 person.......
This is not to suggest that the researcher is making bad points. But without more data, we cannot actually tell if he is making "good" points. Personally, I never like to use a % where the sample size is less than 100. This makes the data misleading. I do teach philosophy and logic at my school and statistics are a bit of a pet peeve. I find that many people who use them deliberately or stupidly misrepresent the numbers or clump data into certain categories to make numbers look inflated where necessary or deflated in other areas where they deem it necessary.
We also have to be aware of a curious use of vocabulary and mathematics. The author says that 25% of students (unknown sample) reported that someone had asked to meet them. Of that number (namely 25%) 12 percent said they had a bad experience. That is 12% of 25%....why does the author not simply say that 3% had a bad experience.....but we take a percent of a percent and the numbers become very small. I'm afraid to say that this is deliberately misleading. Why are we using the number 12 when the actual number is 3?
The next problem that I have is the apparent comfort that the author has in using student teachers to gather data. He claims that they consider themselves to be teachers (which they are not until they are hired by a board and members of a bargaining unit and the college of teachers). Now I have been a teacher associate for student teachers for a number of years. A student teacher is seldom on site for more than 4 weeks. That four week block may not include any computer lab time at all. The student teachers are typically very busy and often overwhelmed with curriculum and lessons. For those student teachers to offer intelligent or accurate evaluations about internet usage, supervision, or board policies seems to be downright sloppy research. Why not contact the boards for their policies? Or ask school IT committees about policies etc?
Watch the vocabulary again. The survey results do not claim to be accurate. He only claims to report what the student teachers "perceived" which is akin to asking a passenger why a plane crashed instead of asking the pilot. He also prefaces his remarks by saying "those who responded to the survey" meaning that some may not have responded. Apparently only 9% of schools give students talks on safe computer use.....(according to the new, uncertified, never-worked-in-this-school, unfamiliar with the school's policies, student teacher) Or maybe that student teacher never observed a safe computer use lesson, or never asked the right questions etc.
The obvious implication here is that we are flying with no radar in the fog. I will not go so far to the other extreme to say that we do all these things 100% of the time. Surely we don't and surely we can always do better. Of course we can also do this 100% of the time and students may still put themselves at risk regardless.
I think we need to do some things where it comes to internet safety:
1. stop fear-mongering. Yes there are risks and that is where education comes into play. Without any statistics to support this, I would be willing to bet that more students are seriously injured riding bikes without helmets or injured in car accidents with no seatbelts than are injured or abducted through wreckless internet use. Does your school have a bike helmet education session?
2. Prohibition does not work. Does anyone read history? Al Capone? Booze? Or how about Chretien's taxes on cigarettes? Banning students or trying to "control" their usage invariably fails. Our school adopted a new system with safeguards. On the first day of its activation I was in the school library and a student had disabled the net-nanny in about 10 seconds. Maybe less. So too tight controls may not work. But education about safe practices, education for parents, some filters will help. In another post I have commented on potential problems with blogs. But a good feature is that a teacher can actually be the blog moderator if it is their blog. So students can read, post, comment, in a semi-controlled and safe environment. How about introducing students to known and moderated chat sites?
3. Use technology in your class and allow the students to become comfortable and familiar with it. The students probably already know more than many teachers. But if the students have many opportunities to use labs, then it increases the opportunities for teachers to drive the messages home about risks and threats. Now internet safety is not actually a ministry expectation of any course that I teach. But research is and so it is easy to seamlessly blend our lessons in the labs with mini-lessons on safety, ethics, and good conduct.
4. Hand in hand with net safety we should begin to protect our students from identity theft, fraud and phishing. Many students actually have credit cards and we should caution them about the use of personal information on-line.
Cheers,
Dan
We do not actually know what the total sample size was and so percent statistics actually tell us very little. And, since we do not know the nature of the actual questions, the posted replies may be misleading.
A number of students were asked for personal information and a number gave personal information. Was this from strangers? Perhaps friends asked for a phone number. That could constitute personal information and will skew the results of the survey. I typically participate in any survey that is aksed of me and I usually find glaring flaws in the types, quantity, and nature of the questions.
Here's an example: at my last school, the principal conducted a survey amongst staff. There were about 100 staff at that school. Following the survey, the principal published the results.
RESULT: of the staff who participated, 50% feel that parking is a concern at the school.
Well. That sounds very impressive. 50% is a big number. Until you realize that only 2 staff answered that particular question and so 50% of those who "participated" is only 1 person.......
This is not to suggest that the researcher is making bad points. But without more data, we cannot actually tell if he is making "good" points. Personally, I never like to use a % where the sample size is less than 100. This makes the data misleading. I do teach philosophy and logic at my school and statistics are a bit of a pet peeve. I find that many people who use them deliberately or stupidly misrepresent the numbers or clump data into certain categories to make numbers look inflated where necessary or deflated in other areas where they deem it necessary.
We also have to be aware of a curious use of vocabulary and mathematics. The author says that 25% of students (unknown sample) reported that someone had asked to meet them. Of that number (namely 25%) 12 percent said they had a bad experience. That is 12% of 25%....why does the author not simply say that 3% had a bad experience.....but we take a percent of a percent and the numbers become very small. I'm afraid to say that this is deliberately misleading. Why are we using the number 12 when the actual number is 3?
The next problem that I have is the apparent comfort that the author has in using student teachers to gather data. He claims that they consider themselves to be teachers (which they are not until they are hired by a board and members of a bargaining unit and the college of teachers). Now I have been a teacher associate for student teachers for a number of years. A student teacher is seldom on site for more than 4 weeks. That four week block may not include any computer lab time at all. The student teachers are typically very busy and often overwhelmed with curriculum and lessons. For those student teachers to offer intelligent or accurate evaluations about internet usage, supervision, or board policies seems to be downright sloppy research. Why not contact the boards for their policies? Or ask school IT committees about policies etc?
Watch the vocabulary again. The survey results do not claim to be accurate. He only claims to report what the student teachers "perceived" which is akin to asking a passenger why a plane crashed instead of asking the pilot. He also prefaces his remarks by saying "those who responded to the survey" meaning that some may not have responded. Apparently only 9% of schools give students talks on safe computer use.....(according to the new, uncertified, never-worked-in-this-school, unfamiliar with the school's policies, student teacher) Or maybe that student teacher never observed a safe computer use lesson, or never asked the right questions etc.
The obvious implication here is that we are flying with no radar in the fog. I will not go so far to the other extreme to say that we do all these things 100% of the time. Surely we don't and surely we can always do better. Of course we can also do this 100% of the time and students may still put themselves at risk regardless.
I think we need to do some things where it comes to internet safety:
1. stop fear-mongering. Yes there are risks and that is where education comes into play. Without any statistics to support this, I would be willing to bet that more students are seriously injured riding bikes without helmets or injured in car accidents with no seatbelts than are injured or abducted through wreckless internet use. Does your school have a bike helmet education session?
2. Prohibition does not work. Does anyone read history? Al Capone? Booze? Or how about Chretien's taxes on cigarettes? Banning students or trying to "control" their usage invariably fails. Our school adopted a new system with safeguards. On the first day of its activation I was in the school library and a student had disabled the net-nanny in about 10 seconds. Maybe less. So too tight controls may not work. But education about safe practices, education for parents, some filters will help. In another post I have commented on potential problems with blogs. But a good feature is that a teacher can actually be the blog moderator if it is their blog. So students can read, post, comment, in a semi-controlled and safe environment. How about introducing students to known and moderated chat sites?
3. Use technology in your class and allow the students to become comfortable and familiar with it. The students probably already know more than many teachers. But if the students have many opportunities to use labs, then it increases the opportunities for teachers to drive the messages home about risks and threats. Now internet safety is not actually a ministry expectation of any course that I teach. But research is and so it is easy to seamlessly blend our lessons in the labs with mini-lessons on safety, ethics, and good conduct.
4. Hand in hand with net safety we should begin to protect our students from identity theft, fraud and phishing. Many students actually have credit cards and we should caution them about the use of personal information on-line.
Cheers,
Dan
On "The Educated Blogger" by David Huffaker
On The Educated Blogger by David Huffaker
An interesting article which cast us instantly into the unknown. Having us post our answers to a publically accessible blog site also causes us to scrutinize our words carefully, more so than if we were just posting our answers to the discussion board of a WebCT site.
There is a certain academic freedom that students (us) share when we sit in a class and we speak frankly and openly about academic topics. But when we post to the www, the rules change somewhat and we must mind our P’s and Q’s. I find that many professionals do not actually say what they think nor what they mean when they put things in writing. Text that would normally include harsh criticism is edited or not posted. The fear of “paper-trails” causes many people to simply keep their opinions to themselves or else people use the phone where it is less easy to document a conversation.
I mention these things because I found the article somewhat mundane. If I were tempted to speak harshly about the article, my comments might be mitigated by fears of libel etc. I am reminded of the time that Preston Manning accused PM Chretien of taking kickbacks. He said it in the house, but when he left the house and entered the scrum, he would not repeat his words. Interesting.
The author has taken the time to state things which I consider to be self-evident or obvious. He foot-notes the fact that “Reading and writing provide the foundation for education” as if that particular statement needs reinforcement from a qualified source.
The author does make a number of important observations. Perhaps the most important is the fact that blogs are popular and if they encourage students to write then they can be valuable. They demonstrate that their is a desire for students to express themselves and tell stories. Story-telling is an integral part of our culture and yes, students want to participate in that. So blogs can help students explore, analyze, relate, write, edit, and internalize writings. They may also allow students to write anonymously. People may never see their faces or critique them openly.
On the other hand, I find that the article is rather one-sided. It does not adequately present pitfalls to blogging. While the article ends with an acknowledgement that further research is required in some areas, it does not adequately demonstrate that blogging actually increases literacy in any way. Some might suggest that writing in unedited, hackneyed computer phrases is detrimental to good expression. There is no comment on the reaction of students to negative comments to their blogs. What happens to the insecure student when another writer comments, “you are stupid, you should stop writing.....?” At least journals created in the class can be monitored as can the environment by the teacher.
Nevertheless our students demonstrate that they are globally savvy, intelligent, and generally conscientious. Without formal education, many are aware of protocols, ethics, standards of conduct and behaviour. Students will even reprimand their own peers for improper conduct on a site etc.
I generally believe that all reading is good reading and all writing is good writing. We encourage students in Essential English to read anything...the comics, horoscopes, sports scores, anything. So how are blogs much different?
They do require us to broadcast lessons on media literacy from a very young age.
***not everything you read is true
***you must be aware of bias
***blogs are personal and not necessarily fact
***blogs are unedited and my be jammed with inaccuracies or falsehoods
But on the other hand, blogs can carry intensely personal accounts. They can carry timely information. They can inspire debate, creative thinking, and a host of other literary skills.
Cheers,
Dan
An interesting article which cast us instantly into the unknown. Having us post our answers to a publically accessible blog site also causes us to scrutinize our words carefully, more so than if we were just posting our answers to the discussion board of a WebCT site.
There is a certain academic freedom that students (us) share when we sit in a class and we speak frankly and openly about academic topics. But when we post to the www, the rules change somewhat and we must mind our P’s and Q’s. I find that many professionals do not actually say what they think nor what they mean when they put things in writing. Text that would normally include harsh criticism is edited or not posted. The fear of “paper-trails” causes many people to simply keep their opinions to themselves or else people use the phone where it is less easy to document a conversation.
I mention these things because I found the article somewhat mundane. If I were tempted to speak harshly about the article, my comments might be mitigated by fears of libel etc. I am reminded of the time that Preston Manning accused PM Chretien of taking kickbacks. He said it in the house, but when he left the house and entered the scrum, he would not repeat his words. Interesting.
The author has taken the time to state things which I consider to be self-evident or obvious. He foot-notes the fact that “Reading and writing provide the foundation for education” as if that particular statement needs reinforcement from a qualified source.
The author does make a number of important observations. Perhaps the most important is the fact that blogs are popular and if they encourage students to write then they can be valuable. They demonstrate that their is a desire for students to express themselves and tell stories. Story-telling is an integral part of our culture and yes, students want to participate in that. So blogs can help students explore, analyze, relate, write, edit, and internalize writings. They may also allow students to write anonymously. People may never see their faces or critique them openly.
On the other hand, I find that the article is rather one-sided. It does not adequately present pitfalls to blogging. While the article ends with an acknowledgement that further research is required in some areas, it does not adequately demonstrate that blogging actually increases literacy in any way. Some might suggest that writing in unedited, hackneyed computer phrases is detrimental to good expression. There is no comment on the reaction of students to negative comments to their blogs. What happens to the insecure student when another writer comments, “you are stupid, you should stop writing.....?” At least journals created in the class can be monitored as can the environment by the teacher.
Nevertheless our students demonstrate that they are globally savvy, intelligent, and generally conscientious. Without formal education, many are aware of protocols, ethics, standards of conduct and behaviour. Students will even reprimand their own peers for improper conduct on a site etc.
I generally believe that all reading is good reading and all writing is good writing. We encourage students in Essential English to read anything...the comics, horoscopes, sports scores, anything. So how are blogs much different?
They do require us to broadcast lessons on media literacy from a very young age.
***not everything you read is true
***you must be aware of bias
***blogs are personal and not necessarily fact
***blogs are unedited and my be jammed with inaccuracies or falsehoods
But on the other hand, blogs can carry intensely personal accounts. They can carry timely information. They can inspire debate, creative thinking, and a host of other literary skills.
Cheers,
Dan
On e-Learning
There are a wide array of pros and cons in regards to online learning. Unlike some of the previous articles, this slide-style presentation was more balanced I thought.
The article did list pros which are not necessarily pros of online learning. For example, the article did mention that group projects can be easily incorporated (just like in a class) and that the course has access to a wide range of resources (just like in a class). So these are not necessarily benefits of e-learning. Any article that you can find on the web for your e-class, I can find on the web and print it for my classroom. So there is no real difference there.
The real benefit, I think, is the manner in which it brings people together. You can assemble a team of students from all corners of Ontario to participate in a course which might never run if it had to be held in a traditional setting.
There are cons to this model too. I teach Latin in a Hamilton high school. in an average year I will get about 75 Latin students (25 students in each of three classes). If we offered a province-wide e-Latin course and 15 students from Hamilton decided to take that e-course, then I would lose the necessary teacher/pupil ratio and my school could cancel all of my Latin courses to the dismay of the other 60 students. Latin teachers are very conscious of this around the province. I have been approached to write an e-Latin curriculum, but most Latin teachers in the province hotly oppose the development of e-Latin because they feel it will kill the programs in their schools.
Many classes offer a learn at your own pace model. This is highly valuable to the busy professionals of today. We are all pulled in so many directions, it is incredibly useful to tackle an assignment in advance or to have some flexibility to hand it in a bit later. It does require students to have greater self-discipline and to be self-motivated learners.
Learn at your own pace can prove to be problematic too. Lazy students can wait until other students have posted answers and then simply mine the other assignments for information which they will use to construct their own answers - a form of plagiarism. This can be countered by having posting "windows" within which students must submit their work. eg. All answers to question 1 must be submitted on Sunday night between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. You can write your answer in advance, but must post it during the window. This reduces the likelihood of other students stealing your work.
The article suggests that learning can be customized to the learner. This has good potential, but in the number of courses that I have taken, there is no real customization.
One nice aspect is that students are obligated to become somewhat techno-savvy. (Did everyone see my post that came in filled with programming code?) ok. I learned and I won't do that again! And technology is omnipresent so it requires us to polish old skills and to learn new ones.
The cost of running an e-course may be different from a traditional course. This is because networks, servers, soft-ware, help-desks etc. may be expensive.
I do have some concerns about the "type" of training that happens with some e-courses. Much of what I have been exposed to is very basic. Read the text and answer the questions. Read the article and offer an opinion. This is learning, but it is rather superficial learning. It generally requires little analysis, justfication, synthesis, comparison or anything. We often see assignments that require students to comment on other students work. This is supposed to be a "feedback" or "collaborative" aspect of the course, but many of those posts look like this: "I totally agree with Bob. Good work."
That, of course, is feedback which contributes nothing to the overall tone of the course or anyone's learning.
Here is an example of an assignment that I received in a recent e-course: Write a paragraph about an object that you have which is meaningful to you........marked "good job mark is 3 out of 3" As a university graduate with two degrees and taking a university level e-course was I actually marked on a paragraph about my most prized possession?
I think that the role of the instructor has also changed in the e-learning environment. Many e-instructors are not instructors at all, but rather facilitators, site managers, helmsmen, or mailboxes. They steer you into different directions and encourage/require you to find answers to your questions. But I have yet to take a course where an e-instructor has actually taught a lesson. The whole process is rather Socratic and it is both fun and interesting because some of the best lessons come from the students themselves with their posts.
There is also a risk if the facilitator is knowledgeable about the subject matter, but not knowledgeable about computers. It impairs their ability to facilitate, to moderate conferences and so on.
I believe that e-courses have made the world smaller and more accessible. Sure some people do not have computers or high speed computers. But those people do not need to take e-courses. Some people don't have cars, but they can take the bus.
My fear is that many e-courses are just ticket-punching courses with very low academic rigor or that the courses are actually CYA (cover your A&* courses.) I recently took an e-course with an exam in the army. It allows me to make contracts and spend National Defense dollars. But nothing prevented me from simply printing the reference material and putting it on my desk and then referring to that printed material when I wrote the exam. If the "course" simply requires me to copy stuff from a page into a forum, that is not much of a course. Much of my last e-course was like that: "transfer information from box A into Box B. I think that e-courses have higher potential than that.
Cheers,
Dan
The article did list pros which are not necessarily pros of online learning. For example, the article did mention that group projects can be easily incorporated (just like in a class) and that the course has access to a wide range of resources (just like in a class). So these are not necessarily benefits of e-learning. Any article that you can find on the web for your e-class, I can find on the web and print it for my classroom. So there is no real difference there.
The real benefit, I think, is the manner in which it brings people together. You can assemble a team of students from all corners of Ontario to participate in a course which might never run if it had to be held in a traditional setting.
There are cons to this model too. I teach Latin in a Hamilton high school. in an average year I will get about 75 Latin students (25 students in each of three classes). If we offered a province-wide e-Latin course and 15 students from Hamilton decided to take that e-course, then I would lose the necessary teacher/pupil ratio and my school could cancel all of my Latin courses to the dismay of the other 60 students. Latin teachers are very conscious of this around the province. I have been approached to write an e-Latin curriculum, but most Latin teachers in the province hotly oppose the development of e-Latin because they feel it will kill the programs in their schools.
Many classes offer a learn at your own pace model. This is highly valuable to the busy professionals of today. We are all pulled in so many directions, it is incredibly useful to tackle an assignment in advance or to have some flexibility to hand it in a bit later. It does require students to have greater self-discipline and to be self-motivated learners.
Learn at your own pace can prove to be problematic too. Lazy students can wait until other students have posted answers and then simply mine the other assignments for information which they will use to construct their own answers - a form of plagiarism. This can be countered by having posting "windows" within which students must submit their work. eg. All answers to question 1 must be submitted on Sunday night between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. You can write your answer in advance, but must post it during the window. This reduces the likelihood of other students stealing your work.
The article suggests that learning can be customized to the learner. This has good potential, but in the number of courses that I have taken, there is no real customization.
One nice aspect is that students are obligated to become somewhat techno-savvy. (Did everyone see my post that came in filled with programming code?) ok. I learned and I won't do that again! And technology is omnipresent so it requires us to polish old skills and to learn new ones.
The cost of running an e-course may be different from a traditional course. This is because networks, servers, soft-ware, help-desks etc. may be expensive.
I do have some concerns about the "type" of training that happens with some e-courses. Much of what I have been exposed to is very basic. Read the text and answer the questions. Read the article and offer an opinion. This is learning, but it is rather superficial learning. It generally requires little analysis, justfication, synthesis, comparison or anything. We often see assignments that require students to comment on other students work. This is supposed to be a "feedback" or "collaborative" aspect of the course, but many of those posts look like this: "I totally agree with Bob. Good work."
That, of course, is feedback which contributes nothing to the overall tone of the course or anyone's learning.
Here is an example of an assignment that I received in a recent e-course: Write a paragraph about an object that you have which is meaningful to you........marked "good job mark is 3 out of 3" As a university graduate with two degrees and taking a university level e-course was I actually marked on a paragraph about my most prized possession?
I think that the role of the instructor has also changed in the e-learning environment. Many e-instructors are not instructors at all, but rather facilitators, site managers, helmsmen, or mailboxes. They steer you into different directions and encourage/require you to find answers to your questions. But I have yet to take a course where an e-instructor has actually taught a lesson. The whole process is rather Socratic and it is both fun and interesting because some of the best lessons come from the students themselves with their posts.
There is also a risk if the facilitator is knowledgeable about the subject matter, but not knowledgeable about computers. It impairs their ability to facilitate, to moderate conferences and so on.
I believe that e-courses have made the world smaller and more accessible. Sure some people do not have computers or high speed computers. But those people do not need to take e-courses. Some people don't have cars, but they can take the bus.
My fear is that many e-courses are just ticket-punching courses with very low academic rigor or that the courses are actually CYA (cover your A&* courses.) I recently took an e-course with an exam in the army. It allows me to make contracts and spend National Defense dollars. But nothing prevented me from simply printing the reference material and putting it on my desk and then referring to that printed material when I wrote the exam. If the "course" simply requires me to copy stuff from a page into a forum, that is not much of a course. Much of my last e-course was like that: "transfer information from box A into Box B. I think that e-courses have higher potential than that.
Cheers,
Dan
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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