(10) TeacherTube... Revolutionizing Learning Through Videos?

If you happened to have caught some of my prior posts about the YouTube in schools debate, you know that it is a very controversial debate in all of education because there are so many ways that it can harm the learning process for students as it is helping them at the very same time.  A friend of mine recommended trying a similar website that is titled TeacherTube. This website works on the very same premise as YouTube, but puts a cap to the content that is added based on subject matter.  I found it incredibly interesting because it does not link videos based on search terms, so students may not be distracted by music from an artist with similar search terms in their song title.  After searching through accounts on TeacherTube for enriching videos, I came across certain videos for English word structure.  What intrigued me was not only the videos on these pages, but the comments posted by viewers.  Some of the comments on these pages said that these people were learning this material for the first time.  That itself is an amazing example of how technology is helping students in our country as well as from other countries learn new things about our English language at any age.

Below are some examples of videos on TeacherTube that can aid in various subject content areas.  By TeacherTube being somewhat "safer" than YouTube in terms of content exposure for students, is it necessarily better in terms of it's videos? Do you think they have value in a classroom over YouTube and it's vast presence in media/video learning? Check out some of the links below and let me know what you think.

English / Language Arts

Math

Science

Art

(9) YouTube in the Classroom... An Friendly Ally or A Potential Foe?

I stumbled upon this article about the addition of YouTube into classrooms.  All teachers can recognize that instruction for students must engage them in more than one way in order for them to adequately absorb content and be able to reflect it in other content areas that they know or may be studying.  While many of my classmates have incorporated articles of how YouTube has now chosen to include a more selective educational channel/aspect to it's site for teachers and students, there still remains a crucial question about it's integration.  Though learning will most likely benefit from it's adaptation, how will schools respond to the constraints it's integration will have to overcome?  Schools will likely have to cross over their own policies on internet and social media allowances to overcome the introduction of it's new educational assistant.  It is known that students can learn immensely from sources on the internet but they can also be immensely distracted by all that the world wide web has to potentially offer?

Will schools be able to make such a transition without having to overhaul and redefine their policies on students allowance onto certain internet sites as well as social media sites like YouTube?  I can see the immense relevance and importance in trying to convey a lesson to students and then having an educational video or snippet to assist them toward better comprehension of what they are learning.  Though YouTube can be an enriching site to aid in instruction for students, it is also where among the educational materials there are various quirky and potentially unsuitable materials for certain age groups.  As teachers, how do we censor the entire world wide web while still trying to get the lesson across our students' desks?

         In a short glance over the Educational Channel on YouTube, I found that it does have very much to offer in a classroom to virtually many different subject areas such as Art, Foreign Languages, History, Math, Science, and Language Arts.  Media can vary from subject to subject as well as grade level.  I posted an example below of how simple the English Parts of Speech such as Pronouns can be learned in a new and interesting approach.   The major problem with the channel is that is has no filters separating it from other content where other detrimental things can be seen and accessed by students.  For example, when examining English Subject Videos, one can easily search for music by a favorite artist which is a virtual gateway into much more than anyone can control.  How will schools integrate this while also protecting certain content from being seen by students? Can we have really have YouTube educationally without all its other strings attached?

What are your thoughts/comments? Let me know what do you think? 

(8) Hybrid Schooling Over Face to Face Instruction?

As we are all familiar, technology is transforming the environment within the classroom.  In some ways, the classroom itself is taking new shapes based on how and where the instruction is actually taking place.  As important as it may be that we make headway with technology changing students' instruction, by time itself transforming the classroom to have a more hybrid style teaching experience, where do teachers stand on the front of education through technology and no face-face acknowledgement?

We all have taken online classes throughout our university and college careers, including this module.  Would the success of our education be better if conducted completely virtual at the high school level?  Various funding by major company supplied grants are being spent for studies conducted on hybrid charter schooling for grades 6-12 to prepare students for college readiness.  Though funding can be an extremely controversial topic when concerning schooling, does it have a place being funded into adapting students for college readiness in grades as low as grade 6?

As future educators, we know that a blended instruction where technology is incorporated into traditional curriculum adaptation is providing students with educations that are constantly being redefined.  Is it necessary to take this to the next step already?  In my opinion, I can see the relevance in supplying high school students with early preparation that is alternatively hybrid as predominantly face to face.  That being said, I cannot see that this is integrated fully taking the place of face to face instruction.  Not all high school students will respond and benefit from this type of new instruction because teenagers are prone to all different kinds of behaviors.  Students occasionally need the traditional framework of learning in a classroom to revolutionize the way they will carry themselves in many future endeavors. As teachers, are we ready for virtual instruction taking the place of all future teaching of our students?  This may be adaptable to various types of schooling, but will funding truly make up for this difference?  Will most teachers have positions when various types of instruction can happen purely online through webinars and other modules?

Read this Education Week article here.  What do you think? Sound off with your opinions on this intriguing future of education.

(7) "Digital Conversion" in Schools Makes Major Headway

This article was a very interesting take on how the new advances in technology have shifted toward hybrid schooling as a priority as opposed to one on one, face to face centered instruction. Is a "digital conversion" really necessary from such young ages to prepare them for the workforce that is out there?  According to how this school district has progressed since its digital conversion, how could it really hurt?

After reading this article, I was intrigued to see how the "digital conversion" that the Mooresville School District in North Carolina has underwent has changed their school in so many ways in such a short time.  In roughly four years since it's inception, the conversion has boosted so many areas and continues to change incredibly.  Such areas as it's annual yearly progress as compared to other schools, it's graduation rates, it's proficiency in subject and content scores, it's aimed learning objectives, etc.  By adapting to this new technology incorporation, this school has remarkably reformatted it's own educational values by not purchasing certain textbooks because the 6,000+ laptops distributed have taken their place and eliminated printing costs immensely as well.  This "conversion" has encouraged teachers to use technology more frequently and more liberally within their lessons by finding content to incorporate that is either web-based or otherwise technology-vested to help better analyze learning objectives for students.

After watching the video posted on the website with the article, I realized that this is an amazing school that any teacher would want to be a part of.  The most notable aspect that I found was that among it's various accomplishments, Principal Todd Wirt has established a program titled Capturing Kids' Hearts. The program is centered on teachers revolutionizing how students react to schooling in general with a positive feedback model.  The program functions "in which teachers are asked to greet students with a pat or a handshake, and open the classroom to details about the good things happening in students’ lives, in an effort to make the school culture less teacher-centered." This intent to shift learning onto not just the students shoulders by the teacher who they feel is just giving them work, reignites learning and shows it to students differently.  The "digital conversion" instead bridges the gap to form relationships with students where the work they are doing is enriching, engaging, and spurs students to look at teachers with understanding as to why such assignments must be completed to better prepare them for the challenges of the workforce.

We all might see this as a relatively easy thing to do.  I thought that it was rather obvious for teachers to incorporate this into our teaching styles along with adapting our curriculum to fit students' needs and caring about their performance so they can succeed.  I was naive at first and then realized that this approach changes traditional teaching and poses a true importance on teaching through technology to better the education of our students.  This district shows how the hybrid schooling and one to one, face to face centered instruction can merge and includes a introduction of new methods into our craft of teaching that at every opportunity possible not only make the students learn but the teachers learn as well.

My sister recently was given a laptop as was all of her colleagues within her school district to aid in teaching as well as adapt their curriculum.  Though she initially seemed not too happy about its presence, I thought that this was an amazing breakthrough in learning for her and her students.  I tried to pose it to her this way.  Though it may seem a bit cumbersome to have more responsibilities, it is already our responsibility to aid in the best education for our students that we are capable of. This only further helps bring that aid to fruition.  How can we be upset about changing lives by enriching the mind and fueling creativity with our lessons?

Would you want to work in this district? Seems to me like a rather simple answer comes to mind.  Read the entire article if you have time.  It focuses on something that all educators should see importance in. Also, watch the short video on the article's webpage to give you some further insight into how this "digital conversion" has dramatically changed these students and their learning.  Sound off with your thoughts or comments!

(6) A World of Difference With a Simple Touch

As educators, we will all face various individual, social, and political hardships at some points that will come heavily into our profession.  We will have to facilitate lessons with students test scores so that by them meeting state scores, we are able to impact their learning as well as keep our positions.  We will navigate stormy seas with parents, guardians, and other associated family issues that occur in students' lives outside school. Though some us of may not be educators specializing in teaching disabled students that require intense educational modifications to assist in learning, we all will have the responsibility to adapt our lessons for students who have difficulties learning by their own faculties or faculties that are beyond their control.

We are all well aware of how types of technology are revolutionizing learning for students in classrooms all over the world.  Not only are visual aids, smart boards, and enriching websites taking over our potential classrooms, they are revolutionizing the way we will be teaching our students for the rest of our careers.  I stumbled upon this article that showcases this very amazing feat but not only for academic level education students but for students with various learning disabilities or physical disabilities.

Times are changing in every aspect of our lives. The picture above displays a person reading braille from a traditional 8x7 form in order to study materials and read concepts for a lesson.  This type of instruction has dramatically changed over the past few years.  While students might rely on notebooks and pens for note taking, the transition to laptops and tablets has changed the dynamics of instruction and concept understanding in classrooms everywhere.  Problems arise when these advanced technologies cannot help disabled or special needs students.  Tablets performance in classrooms is unconventional, but how might their performance help impact the learning of blind students who cannot type their notes or see the applications on their tablets?

In a Wisconsin school district, blind students are being reengaged into technological learning by the use of an iPad application called Refreshabraille as well as smart attachments like the Omnifier.  When combined together, these advancements allow blind students like Kyle, age 7, to read stories that are on his iPad by use of the technology of braille dots popping up as the story progresses on an iPad case.  The dots raise on the case as it "reads" the story and adapts it for a blind person.  Though Kyle may not be able to see the story and read it on the screen, he can read it through the braille bubbles appearing on the Omnifier case that allow him to follow stories and learn new concepts.  When he finishes the first sentence, the next sentence in bubbles appears so he can continue reading.  Other iPad applications like VoiceOver help students like Correy who are dyslexic to read by reading aloud the content on the screen.  Correy, who struggles while attempting to sort words and read them from a book, will see the words on the screen as they are highlighted and being read to him from the iPad.  This application helps students to focus on "problem" words to help struggling readers keep reading with assistance.

 

Though technology may be debated widely while being used in instruction, the applications and attachments here provide students with capabilities that can change their education immensely and advance their abilites to absorb new concepts.  Though funding is required through Medical Assistance applications for these, blind students as well as diagnosed struggling readers will have various new learning styles that can revolutionize their understanding while still honing in their abilities of comprehension.

What do you think?  Does "it", meaning advancing technology, have a place in a classroom for students that have disabilities that prevent them from some comprehension or learning? Sound off with your thoughts or comments:)

(5) Interactivity #3 - Technology Inventory for English Education I

As a future educator, the relevance of this exercise is multifaceted because it provides both the teacher and student with various methods to help aid in learning, organization, collective contribution and collaboration with peers, while further reinforcing education when needed.  Most of these aids are effective for teachers because they provide them with chances to visualize and see Webinars to continually reinvent their craft of teaching.  It also helps teachers in trying to aid students by providing assignments and classroom exercises from outside the classroom to give them feedback on their work.  For students, these technologies provide them with interactive ways of learning, organization skills to aid in understanding, and unique ways to express individuality. 

The group inventory interactivity proved to be a truly enriching aspect to incorporating technology in a classroom.  By working collaboratively as a group, I have been exposed to far more unique technologies than had I done this exercise alone.  These technologies also present to me that, as an educator technology will be a driving force in content comprehension for students.  It will push students further toward an interactive learning.  I also found myself making notes on several of these technologies because I could see how prevalent their usage or involvement would aid in a lesson or help students better understand a concept.  The Google Docs Spreadsheet also allowed for a shared contribution to a greater whole of the project, something that I was not familiar with but will definitely use again in the future.  In all of the content posted, the most important aspect that was threaded through most of our technologies is infusing the Expressive Authoring and accountability aspect to English content.  This particularly means that the most important aspect to English content knowledge is infusing one’s own writing, ideas, and understanding with creativity.  Such technologies like Prezi (for creating presentations), Penzu (online diary writing and sharing), and Wordle (word clouds infused as art) are all interesting to use in classrooms because they provide students with interactive and unique way of expressing themselves.

By meeting with Lizz and Guiliana, we were able to discuss our approaches to using such technologies as well as supplying each other with additional brainstorming and thinking outside of the box for more useful technologies to be included within the spreadsheet. These technologies might be effective for trying to teach kids to work through their dependent reading behaviors like we have learned in READ 411.  It might also be beneficial to see how their content and understanding responds through an assessment as we are learning in CURR 314.  Though each technology does not replace a teacher teaching the content, most provide students with a great additional support to comprehension when not inside a classroom.  As teachers, we will need to supply our students with methods that can help them outside of the classroom so that learning can be a process anywhere they are regardless of a classroom styled instruction.

(4) Hope and Enthusiasm Are Soaring In These Classrooms, But Not Test Scores....

Hello Fellow Technology Junkies,

I stumbled upon this article and it brings up the ever-present debate of technology in the classroom.  It examines the quintessential discussion between teachers, parents, students, and how technology seems to wiggle its way into the classroom.  Does it have a place OVER other educational subjects like Music, Art, and Physical Education especially when integrated into curriculums from younger and younger grades? And most importantly, does it seem to be helping students more or hurting them by restricting their educational integrity?

With district budgets soaring into schools to help revolutionize student learning and performance, is it bad if it seems to be backfiring when examined by standardized tests results?

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/technology/technology-in-schools-faces-questions-on-value.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&sq=in%20classrooms%20of%20future,%20stagnant%20scores&st=cse&scp=1

--What do you guys think? Sound off with comments!

(3) The 21st Century Learners

After researching some aspects of influential technologies in classrooms, I came across a YouTube video from both the MacArthur Foundation and the Pearson Foundation that clearly exposes the intent of technology for teachers and students alike.  The video examines aspects that many of us are familiar with, but it does help to enrich the facets of learning inside students' minds to teachers when examining the role that technology plays in our students lives inside school and outside their school lives as well. Students engage in technology not only for their own benefit, interest, and enrichment but participate in technology and its various outlets as methods for classification among the sea of sameness in our society.  They like to be challenged. They like to be defined by their abilities and also be explicit in their uniqueness when being compared to others. Theses students and their mastery of new abilities are the potential figureheads of future development in various avenues such as civic and social interactivity, political and social movements, creativity in its own rights, and the future of education as well.

Though we have learned many important qualities that make up the distinct primary and secondary discourses within our lives, this video engages students to connect those discourses in some loosely bound fashions in attempt to bridge the present gap and start doing so by using technology as a building block.  It inspires students to gain literacy of learning as well as standards and expectations that will allow them to better incorporate technology in their lives as a basis for future development and enrichment.  This is also where we as  teachers will provide the necessary insight and encouragement to help further students achievements and aspirations.  

Technology and its immense impact is somewhat of a vicious cycle that can be aimed toward either fruitful rewards for students as well as futile goals simultaneously.  Despite the video being posted onto YouTube in 2010, it still provides insight of technology in a classroom as it undergoes modifications as well as changes for better or worse.  The difficult aspects for us as educators will be defining the limit of technology and where it will be most efficiently used within a classroom setting.  It is our responsibility to distribute some content knowledge, but also our responsibility to know where formal learning takes place without technology or its counterparts.  

It is not just the aspect that these students have learned and are now learning objectives that will help them reshape the world that we live in, but they are also able to see the differences between the learning processes that occurred in the 20th century and learning that is now occurring in the 21st century. Various types of media are being revolutionized around every corner and continue to be reinvigorated in classrooms each day. The most important question posed within the video is the issues of how to link outside learning of technology as a community experience into the formal learning process inside the classroom. The learners of the 21st century are able to see and reflect on technology as a backbone to their creativity, as the incessant drive for their future endeavors, and as the definition of their experiences in learning.  It is critical and ever present that the role of educators aims to foster a productive and healthy experience with technology that will not only enrich learning but inspire our students as well.

--View the video below and see if you agree with how they feel education of technology is represented. Also examine the role teachers must play in response to the ever-growing cloud of technology as it storms in and out of the classrooms

Works Cited:
The 21st Century Learner Video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0xa98cy-Rw&feature=related
Header Image:

http://www.toonpool.com/user/550/files/technology_244495.jpg

(2) Interactivity #2 - Technological Influence on English Education

Television heavily captured the attention of children while in school in the mid 20^th century by influencing their learning and allowing them to visualize the written word in a way that the radio never did.

-----------------------------

Images found via Google Images searches

TV film picture background: http://www.wa2ise.com/radios/tv.html

Radio picture: http://www.anythinggoes.fm/anythinggoes/?page_id=247