Journal 5

Making Field Trips Podtastic! Use of Handheld Wireless Technology Alleviates Isolation & Encourages Collaboration, Aliece M. Weller, John C. Bickar, & Paul McGuinness, Learning & Leading with Technology, Volume 35, Number 6, March/April 2008

Imagine knowing that your students have learned all that it is possible to learn on their next field trip to the museum. Imagine also that you have instant assessments available to prove that they have learned the information available throughout the museum's exhibits. Well, you can stop imagining. Several students from the Harvard School of Education have created podcasts to use on handheld computers to enhance the field trip experience. These are interactive podcasts that allow digital photos and videos to be taken, audio interviews to be recorded, notes to be recorded, additional information to be accessed via the internet and assessments to be made before the student can go on to the next exhibit.

Their initial field tests with students show that the students increase their time on each exhibit, getting the full benefit of that exhibit and increase the amount of depth of engagement with each exhibit.

Question: When will this be available to the general public and when can I gain access to them for my students?

Answer: I would like to find out how to go about getting this for our school. We have ample funds, and it would be such a great tool for every grade. What an awesome concept. I will try to contact the authors, and give a copy of this article to our IT person.

Question: Would this be difficult for teachers to program according to each classroom's needs?

Answer: The authors give the technological guidelines and tools necessary to create this awesome tool. They state that is user-friendly and simple for the teachers to program.

Journal 4

Mind the Gap; It's a high-speed, high-def, Wi-Fi world. But not for everybody, Cindy Long, NEAToday Technology Divide, March 2008

Most students today are so digitally connected that it's hard to imagine that there are still 30 million American homes that do not have a computer. Most of these homes are at or below the poverty level. The educational disadvantages are onerous for the students growing up having computer access only at their school or the local library. These students do not have time to explore the Internet and find out all that this digital age has to offer. They have to concentrate on how to use the computer instead of how to learn the lessons.

Teachers across the country are finding ways to get their students the Internet access they need to better their education. In Nevada, one teacher used the older computers that the school was getting rid of to pilot a 1:1 laptop program. His students will not be technologically-challenged when they go off to high school.

A small rural community was transformed by access to high-speed Internet. Only 14% of their students went off to college before the Internet access, now 78% go to college.

It is apparent through these and other stories in this article that access to the Internet has the power to change the future, especially for disadvantaged students. It's up to us to get it into their hands.

Question 1: Should Internet access be available throughout the United States regardless of income?

Answer: The answer is a simple and resounding yes, the logistics are the difficult part. Older computer donations and rural Internet access is one way to start. After school centers are another answer.

Question: How can we as educators insure computer access to all of our students?

Answer: We can make our computer labs available during after school and before school hours. We can also partner with the local libraries for basic computer classes for all students.

Journal 3

Five Don'ts of Classroom Blogging, Julie Sturgeon, T-H-E Journal, February 2008

Blogging has become a great benefit for students today. Online journaling is here to stay and can be incorporated into many different school subjects. It can be a fantastic supplement to daily lessons, as well.

The author puts together some advice from teachers who have already tapped into the blogging world with their students.

1. "Don't just dive in." Set up guidelines and objectives beforehand or you will have problems galore.
2. "Don't confuse blogging with social networking." This kind of blogging is for academic purposes. Make sure that your students are collaborating and creating thoughtful questions and comments.
3. "Don't leap at the freebies." Most of the free sites don't offer the structure or security necessary for schools to use them. There are advertisements aplenty and not all of them are appropriate for the school setting.
4. "Don't force a sequential style." Make the blogs easier to operate by structuring the entries topically, rather than chronologically.
5. "Don't leave the blogging to the students." Give your students feedback on your own blog. Point out the positive things they are doing. Let them know that you are part of their community and blog with them.

Question 1: Would my students be able to keep up with blogging along with all of the other coursework that is required of them?

Answer: If I could incorporate the blogging into the current lesson plans in place of some other coursework, it would make it more fun for them to finish and they would actually enjoy the learning!! It would be exciting to read each other's journaling and beneficial for them to read their peer's take on the lesson.

Question 2: Would this be a supplement that I could incorporate into all subjects?

Answer: Blogging can be used with every subject. Science project ideas could be written up and comments could help the budding scientist improve his/her original idea. Math vocabulary can be defined in a way that is meaningful to the student. Language Arts essays and original poetry can be written and commented on. The possibilities are endless.

Journal 2

Speaking Math;Using Chat in the Multiculural Classroom, Janet Graham & Ted Hodgson, Learning & Leading with Technology, Volume 35, Number 5, February 2008

Online chats and forums are popular among young people, so a couple of teachers decided to make them available to their geometry and algebra II classes as a supplement to the traditional classroom setting. They focused their discussions on specific math vocabulary and concepts.

The two venues that were used were online chat rooms and discussion forums. The online chat rooms were real-time and the discussion forums were different times over the duration of the assignments. Full credit depends on whether the student uses the specific target vocabulary terms or not. The students chat with each other and help each other to understand the math concepts. The teachers moderate the chat rooms and forums to make sure that appropriate topics are being covered. The teachers also use the students' discussions to create lesson plans when it is apparent that the students need a better understanding of a concept. The teachers also found that this was an extremely beneficial venue for non-native speakers. The non-native speakers have time to process and plan out their responses, and that they all use the same online acronyms.

The authors did an informal study and found that electronic communication positively affects student learning.

Question 1: Would this be a good supplement to instruction in my classroom?

Answer: Yes, I would like to implement electronic communication into my lesson plans. We have a great computer lab at our school, and I could designate a time during the week for math chat. I will have to look into which software to purchase, which brings us to the next question.

Question 2: What are the expenses and will this be something that our school can find the funds for?

Answer: I will have to do some research to find out the expenses associated with implementing this kind of program into our school. Depending on the cost, I may be able to take it out of our math budget this year.

Journal 1

Social Networking For The K-12 Set, Jim Klein, Learning & Leading with Technology, Volume 35, Number 5, February 2008

Two IT staff members and one curriculum specialist created the SUSD community site, a social networking site for the district staff, teachers and students to use. It did not cost anything but time, and it was ready to work in three weeks. It allows the district employees and students access to user profiles, blogging tools, secure file storage, sharing, RSS and podcasting. It also allows the options of sharing with the general public, site members only, small groups or individuals. The teachers are using the site for newsletters, lessons, announcements, updates, presentation sharing, communicating and collaborating with colleagues, sharing lesson plans, video and podcasting. The students are using the site for posting podcasts and creative writing projects, collaborative research, and lesson reviews made by their teachers.

This is an amazing resource for both the students and the teachers, not to mention all district employees. It sounded like a fairly simple set-up (for the IT people, not me ;0}), no extra expenses, except time, and the users are thinking of ways to use it that the IT people didn't even think of!


Question 1: Would I be able to use this resource in my classroom?

Answer: I definitely would be able to use this resource in my classroom. I would also be able to use this type of site as an invaluable resource for communication and collaboration with my colleagues, perhaps we could replace the weekly staff meeting? {giggle}. I could communicate with my students, communicate with their parents, write lesson reviews, newsletters, blog, have great multi-media projects, access to group projects, and give the students easily-accessible assignments. The possibilities are endless.


Question 2: How will I implement this resource at my school or district?

Answer: I am going to talk to our school's IT coordinator tomorrow. I will show him the article and ask him how to go about getting this program started for our school. I will offer any services I can provide, which are limited, but I'm willing to learn and help. I will let you know how it goes...