Let me begin by saying that the title of this post may not be entirely accurate. This in more of a tentative plan, or a wish list of sorts, rather than an actual blueprint of what technologies will be implemented in my curriculum. That being said, here is my tentative “blueprint”:
- Blogging: I think blogging has a great deal of potential in my curriculum. At this point in time, I am planning on posting a question or idea in the form of a blog on a weekly basis (or possibly more frequently). My students will then have the opportunity (actually I would require them) to respond by posting their own answers/thoughts. This would be excellent for “open ended questions,” as it provides each student to provide their input, and gain insight from the other students. Just as with “traditional literacy” training, the process would have to be modeled approximately ten times until the students take “ownership” of the methods and expectations associated with the technique. This is not to say that they don’t know how to comment on blogs, as I am sure most of them do. I am merely trying to say that it will take several times until they become familiar with the requirements (I think I will see a lot of ”I don’t know” or “I agree with _____” answers in an attempt to get out of the work. I like the idea of being able to preview their responses before they are posted (call it censorship if you want).
- Podcasting: Podcasts may have some merit, especially when it comes to students who are absent for prolonged periods. By podcasting the lessons, the students would be able to watch them at a later date and time, outside of school. It would also allow for independent review of the material from the class. This method also has a great deal of potential for students who have poor note taking or writing skills (particularly related to speed), as they could use the podcast to supplement their notes. Notice I said supplement, not replace!
- Wikis: I am a bit more tentative about the use of wikis, however, I do see limited potential as a means of making and presenting a final report for a project, which could then be reviewed and commented on by other members of the class.
- Social Bookmarking: This has potential, as the students and I could use it to develop a listing of sites related to the class.
- On-line calendars: This is something I have attempted to do off of my class’s webpage. I post a calendar for the class which allows the students, their parents, actually anyone to see what activities are happening on a given day, along with when tests/quizzes are scheduled, and when assignments are do. The key here is remembering to update it.
- Interactive programs: We, as a school have embraced some web 2.0 applications, such as “Career Cruising”. These allow the students to take interest assessments, and prepare resumes on-line. Our “virtual hydraulic excavator simulator” also falls into this category.
- Finally, I will continue have the students utilize some of the “old” web 1.0 methods to locate information. As in the past, word processing, will be coupled with the research to develop printed documents.
Fortunately, my program/field of study is very technology advanced, and those items have been, and will continue to be part of the curriculum. Surveying is one of these areas. Lasers and GPS are already incorporated into the curriculum. In addition, most of the equipment has, on average four (4) computer processors. Several of the machines allow the operator to interface with the machine.
I am happy to say that this class has given me some new insights into the integration of technology, and I look forward to implementing several of these items in the fall.
5 comments ↓
You brought up a very good point about modeling how to use these technologies appropriately. I’m sure all our students know how to use at least some of these tools, but the way in which they will be expected to respond and use these technologies will need to be carefully instructed and modeled in order for it to become a useful piece to the classroom.
Similarly, I think that our perceptions about these technologies as teachers will need to be shifted and altered as we see how our students respond to them. The way in which our students react to their use will help to model the way in which we want to use them. A lot of the strategies we’ve brainstormed together as a class as far as how to initiate and use these technologies will need to be adjusted in a sort of “trial and error” process. On a class to class basis, some students will be more excited and approachable through certain tools over others. Regardless of what works, we have an extensive palette of tools to choose from.
I foresee using some of the same strategies for integrating new technologies into my classroom. With blogging, I even thought about incorporating a picture, and having students free write about the picture. This activity will allow students to carry over writing skills learned during writing workshop. With wikis, I thought it would be neat to create a teacher wiki, allowing teachers to share ways in which they were successful, unsuccessful, need support/ideas in integrating technology in order to move the school into a 21st century school. This may help create a fluid shift with technology. I would talk with my principal about this idea to get it going.
I also agree with your point about repeated instruction and teaching students how you want things done. One approach I use with written responses is “thick and thin” Thick answers and questions are open ended, on right answer, includes support for answers, and encourages students to elaborate. Thin answers and questions include a right or wrong answers, can be answered with one word or sentence, does not encourage application.
I like when you said the idea “technology advanced.” My students are very fortunate to each have a laptop and I am a lucky teacher to be in a situation such as this. After reading your breakdown, I am looking at the catagories and seeing that all of this will fit into my curriculum. I can encorporate it in very easily. The one thing that I noticed is that students do not like doing podcasts a lot. They find it boring and not that creative. Now that we are seeing and experiencing these tools first hand, we can build and rebuild our classes and make them bigger and better.
I am pleased that you have given so much thought to ways you can incorporate various tools into your classroom. One thing to think about with blogging is the potential for conversation. Having students return to a post to read the comments of others and then commenting back again can enhance conversations that occur face-to-face.
These sound like some exciting ideas and strategies! Your idea for implementing the blog sounds particularly promising. I definitely agree with you about the necessity of modeling the approach and its requirements. Like you said, I know many students would have the tendency to say a whole bunch of nothing. Even our class had to be pushed beyond the ‘two cent comments’. Modeling the composition of a thoughtful blog response as well as providing very clear-cut guidelines for the responses would provide a great opportunity for us to encourage higher level thinking.
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