Communication

All aboard is an article by David and Margaret Carpenter that introduces us to a new version of Honk Kong International School (HKIS) than the one that existed a short time ago before a major infusion of new technology. The first task at hand seemed to be aligning all the stake holders under a common leader. Naturally, this responsibility fell to the current teachers at HKIS. The various teachers spearheaded the effort to transform the curriculum. The technology team included instructional technologists and the library media specialist, and a coordinator. Initially the program focused on social studies and sciences. The thinking seemed to be that these were easier to digest and transfer to a technology high level. Another innovation that was well thought out was the use of a curriculum mapping tool. At the end of each curriculum, an assessment driven improvement system was implemented. One novel benefit of this approach was that the teachers learned the technology that the students had already been using. This exposure of the teachers allowed them to ask what else they could do with the technology and a new wave of learning is set to take off. The peer review process is very functional with changes being directly noted to moodle for the next teacher to review. Because so many educators have access to the information the feedback loop is particularly effective. This article and approach seems to lend itself very well to the ISTE NETS and performance indicators for students communication and collaboration (Bullet point 4). The communication aspect that must be brought to a wide audience effectively using a variety of media and formats is what I thought of as I read the article. I feel that the feedback loop of the process used by HKIS is perhaps the most important part of the whole lesson. Carpenter, D and M. (2008-2009). All aboard! How a new curriculum-development review process brought teachers, administrators, and learning specialists to the table and resulted in some innovative uses of technology. Learning and leading with technology, 36( 4). 14-17. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200812#pg20

Digital Citizenship

In Mike Ribble’s article passport to digital citizenship, we are reintroduced to the idea of digital citizenship. According to NET.S digital citizenship entails “students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior”. The areas that a student will can utilize these issues are in the safe practices, positive attitudes, demonstration of personal leadership and responsibility. In this idea of digital citizenship, the student takes responsibility for their actions at home and at school. It is not enough to know about the technologies, the demonstrations of the technology is only half of the job. Modeling the leadership and taking full responsibility is the other half of digital citizenship and is most often left out of the equation. Too many people seem to take the anonymity of the internet for granted and write things online that they would never say in public. This last application is of particular concern to me. As eventual teachers, and possibly parents, we are our childrens’ mentors and heros’. We owe it to them to model correct behaviors and correct bad behavior. This article directly aligns with the ISTE NETS and performance indicators for students. As well as mirroring the criteria of digital citizenship (bullet point 5) I read about 9 bullet points that Ribble deems important. Among these are the full capacity to learn the technologies. These is no sense in using a technology if you don’t use it correctly. Additionally, the ability to keep the student safe, as well as the information being created is part of the digital security of digital citizenship. There are four stages of learning technology that seemed to be garnered from other areas of education. This is referred to as the “Four-stage cycle of technology integration. “ These include: Awareness, guided practice, modeling and demonstration and feedback and analysis. The article seems to touch on very important issues and offers an example for modeling correct behavior at the teaching level. I enjoyed it and look forward to implementing some of the lessons in a classroom in the near future. Ribble, M. (2008-2009). Passport to Digital Citizenship: Journey toward appropriate technology use at school and at home Learning and leading with technology, 36( 4). 14-17. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200812#pg20

Using excel in elementary school

In the article “use Excel to teach Patterns” by Brice Seifert, a method for reinforcing concrete and pictorial patterning was desired. Excel was the medium for this and functions of excel were used to allow worksheets to be made randomly that would allow children to follow logic sequences to arrive at the desired patterns. The main reasoning behind the excel model seemed to be laying the principles for algebraic identification. Since algebra is so important, I can understand the exposure. The students seemed to really love this assessment tool. The purpose was to develop patterns and allow the patterns to randomly generated. Honestly, while I certainly appreciate technology in the classroom, this seemed to be a little bit much for the educational level it was aimed at. The end result was just a random pattern. It could have been work sheets. It could have been a white board. I did not feel that the end result was adequate other than to show case someone’s excel skills. Perhaps I missed the point of the article. Seifert, Brice. (2010). Use Excel to teach patterns. Learning & leading with technology. 37(7). 36-37. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/201005#pg1

Meet the Candidates

In the article Step Aside, Karl Rove! These Kids Are Tech Savvy, I was introduced to an online community. The purpose of this particular online community was to introduce a class room of fifth graders to the election process, and allow them to role-play this process and document their adventures online. “meet the Candidates” was formed with a librarian, a computer teacher, two fifth grade teachers and over 50 educators from across the country. The purpose was to understand why people should vote. The corner stone of the project was web 2.0 tools that created a dynamic learning community. Kids volunteered to run the mock campaigns of the candidates and the results were outlined on project wiki. Students used all mediums including text, visual, digital and other technologies in their projects. The results were posted to a google map. By the end of the project all the students had become extremely immersed in the political arenas of the time. Discussions were heard at home and at recess on the playground. “meet the candidates” allowed children to access technology that they may have not been familiar with. This technology allowed them to connect and converse with other students and educators across the country and form a network to showcase their work. Ultimately the project allowed these people to understand why we vote, and they will most likely vote in the future as a result. Kliegman, k. (2010). Step Aside, Karl Rove! These kids are tech savvy. Learning & leading with technology. 37(7). 34-35. Retrieved from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/201005#pg1

Graphical representation

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iwPpoX6LVcY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The transition from a student to an educator.