Final Project

The Final Project for Steve Guthrie, Robin Ulster, David Healy and Jean Williams can be found at:

http://www.coetail.asia/page/Connections+for+Change

How do you manage the use of technology peripherals with students? What are some things you’ve learned and hope to implement?

The technology peripherals that we currently use in seventh grade Humanities are Skype and student and teacher blogs. Both are powerful applications for connecting students to learning networks outside the classroom. In addition, I envision that very soon our students will all have their rss reader and their own personal web.

 Also, it seems that a device such as the iphone will become the choice of students instead of the laptop. This device will offer students unlimited portability and 24/7 access to the Web. Collaborative work, research, social networking, media sharing, notetaking – all would be available at one’s fingertips and would be backed up by the power of the cloud. In addition, smart objects will become ubiquitous allowing an amazing access to numerous objects and surroundings and their stored data.

 Technology advances are making it easier for all of us to connect to collaborative networks. In so doing, productivity gains whether in the classroom or in the workplace should be enormous.

 

How relevant are the NETS for teachers and administrators for being a good educator today?

The classroom of tomorrow is already here. In it, students are exploring real-world problems using digital tools and online resources. In many ways, the classrooms of today resemble current global networks. In the classroom and in the outside world, networks of informed and committed people are studying real-world issues and solving authentic problems. Thus, the NETS are highly relevant standards to preparing students for their lives once they leave the classroom and enter the world beyond.

One of the hallmarks of real-world networks is constructing knowledge in collaborative groups. Of course, that is also one of the NETS. In today’s NETS-based classrooms students are provided numerous opportunities to construct their knowledge working collaboratively with others. In fact, the power of many digital tools is that they are tailor made for people working collaboratively.

An important part of working with others in both in the classroom and the real-world is the safe, legal, and ethical use of digital information and technology. Students need to understand copyright laws and fair use standards and follow and respect them in their work just as adults do in the real-world.

Finally, a critical element for members in global learning networks is trust. As network theorist Karen Stephenson has written, “It takes twenty years to build trust and two minutes to destroy it.” Therefore, students really need to learn how to be responsible in their social interactions while working in classroom collaborative groups and online networks. Thus, NETS standards are not only relevant to teachers and administrators, they are a critical element in delivering an education that prepares students for the world that they will enter after the classroom.

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What are ways you manage the use of laptops in your classroom and what additional best practice ways might you add?

One of the easiest ways to manage use of laptops in class is to have students put their lids down when the teacher is talking to them or when they should be doing anything other than working on the laptop. Another tool that we use in grade seven is to assign each student a specific cart and computer to use. This trick allows teachers to easily find out who has not plugged in their laptop when finished with it. A penalty could be given for chronic failure to plug in laptops.

 Another useful tool is to offer positive comments to students who are making good use of their laptop. Also, having students use their computer for group research projects and then having students share their results is a good motivator for proper laptop use. Using librarians to teach students to find online resources is a great way to give students more tools that help them in their projects. Finally, having students use Google Docs or Diigo for research and knowledge sharing is another powerful motivator for effective computer use in the classroom.

 

 

Whose job is it to teach the NETS and AASL standards to students?

It seems that the job of teaching NETS and ASSL standards to students falls on the shoulders of the teachers. They are the ones in daily contact with students and they have an understanding of how technology is to be embedded in the respective grade-level curriculums. By teachers, I mean all instructional staff including IA’s.

 Everyone would agree that the AASL Standards are desirable for all students to strive for and attain: using the inquiry process; thinking critically; gaining knowledge and understanding; making conclusions; making informed decisions; applying knowledge to new situations and creating new knowledge.

 The development of the above skills is desirable in all curricular areas including math, science, PE and the humanities. Therefore, all teachers would be responsible to teach the skills. The job of the tech coaches would be to help teachers implement just-in-time technology applications as needed by students in their inquiry learning. 

How can teachers and schools ensure that their students are learning what they need when it comes to technology and information literacy?

Excellent question – where to start? Let’s start with information literacy. In my opinion, the best way to ensure that our students are learning what they need in terms of information literacy is to offer all students truly differentiated instruction. No one would argue that ISB classrooms are not mixed ability classrooms. Just spend five minutes talking to students and it becomes apparent that each student is different from the others in terms of readiness, experience, interest, intelligences, language, culture and mode of learning.

 In the differentiated classroom teachers meet each student where s/he is at in order to ensure that each student maximizes learning. “The differentiated classroom provides different avenues to acquiring content, to processing or making sense of ideas, and to developing products." Carol Ann Tomlinson

In the differentiated classroom all students would be actively involved in the inquiry process anchored in a concept-based unit and would all be working toward answering the same essential questions and developing the same enduring understandings. The differentiated classroom would offer students both a classroom text set as well as a web-based text set. These text sets would provide each student many avenues to acquiring content that are appropriate in terms of each student’s readiness, experience, intelligence, interest, language background, culture and mode of learning.

In summary, teachers need to ask themselves whether they are meeting each student where s/he is at or are they insisting that students modify themselves to fit the curriculum. If students are provided with a truly differentiated classroom they are more likely to maximize their learning.