Darn, overwhelmed again. The technology class continues to offer an avalanche of technology suitable for the classroom and it can be overwhelming. What I need is to begin to develop some filters.
Filter number one: Robin and Carrie. they are both editors for the technology magazine I read every Thursday night. I try not to think how much time it takes for them to find and evaluate the sites and software they offer us because there must be a good number of duds. I have to remember that this is not the subscribe to a magazine paradigm. No editor is in their ivory tower picking content for you in web 2.0, you simply look behind Robin and Carrie and what do you find is the free technology for teachers web site http://www.freetech4teachers.com/. This is now my Filter number two. I need to get a collection of filters together to keep me in touch with all the technology offerings I might be interested in. It was this macro-view of technology that really hit me this week in class. My question is how do I find technology that I can apply to Robin's standard of helping me to teach. I will have to get a collection of editors. I will also need to have groups that I can ask and reflect off and of course our cohort is a great group for that since we are all basically on the same part of the education technology curve. This will be my Filter number three.
The application of my filtering network of sites and groups will have to become part of my lesson preparation.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Weekly blog from October 22nd
Robin showed us some stats from the history of the census and from the selective service. The point was that what appeared as one set of data actually told a different story than one might assume at first glance. Technology, in the case Fathom, illustrated "the story". This was all within the framework of "telling a story" with numbers to make a subject interesting. There was also a comment (this week's I think though I may be wrong) about how if a picture can tell a thousand words, what is the power of technology to illustrate a lesson. I really liked the idea of "telling a story", I think it can bring attention to a subject. I also thought about the different ways to relate a story: words, pictures, technology. I was also thinking about the history of relating abstract ideas. If you go back really far the most abstract ideas were not science or math but history. The teachings were mostly oral. So how do you utilize "story telling" to teach a non narrative subject like math or science? If you can figure this out you are doing well because the best oral tradition is hard to beat. I think of the best story tellers: you really remember what they said, you remember the story. Imagine the 10,000 hours rule back in preliterate times 3,4,5 thousand years ago. The stories and the tellers must have been really good. They probably had all the literary devices including plot twist. Wait, plot twist, isn't that the literary technique Robin was using in her "stories", and Malcolm Gladwell too? So to be a great teacher you have to learn to use technology to tell good stories, how do you learn to tell good stories to adolescents?
I want to learn to tell stories that adolescents think are interesting stories, I want to learn how to use words pictures and technology to make them irresistible. I want a set of stories for algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, statistics and number theory.
Here is a story that has not been well told and yet probably could. Kepler figures his second law: A line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time. An orbit is an elipse, so how do you figure the areas of sweep? Calculus, which was developed 50 years later?!? So Kepler wasn't integrating his areas right? No. There is the story: try to figure Mars's orbit, based on Tycho Brahe's numbers without calculus. Now doesn't it turn into a page turner if Mr. Newton or Mr Liebnetz add their two cents worth, doesn't it illustrate both concepts better?
I want to learn to tell stories that adolescents think are interesting stories, I want to learn how to use words pictures and technology to make them irresistible. I want a set of stories for algebra, geometry, trigonometry, calculus, statistics and number theory.
Here is a story that has not been well told and yet probably could. Kepler figures his second law: A line joining a planet and the sun sweeps out equal areas during equal intervals of time. An orbit is an elipse, so how do you figure the areas of sweep? Calculus, which was developed 50 years later?!? So Kepler wasn't integrating his areas right? No. There is the story: try to figure Mars's orbit, based on Tycho Brahe's numbers without calculus. Now doesn't it turn into a page turner if Mr. Newton or Mr Liebnetz add their two cents worth, doesn't it illustrate both concepts better?
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
October 21 reveiw of Paltonic Solids applet
Remember: Euler's Formula: V - E + F = 2
Link to Platonic Solids applet: http://nlvm.usu.edu/en/nav/frames_asid_128_g_4_t_3.html?open=instructions&from=topic_t_3.html
The applet's description says: "Identify characteristics of the Platonic Solids." and this is an accurate description that masks some of the complexity it is capable of. The National Library of Virtual Manipulatives groups its applets into roughly three year groups from pre-k - 2 to 9-12. The Platonic Solids applet is included in each grade range group.
The Applet features a screen where one can alternate between the five Platonic Solids, representing them as solid or wire, selecting and counting edges, vertices, and coloring faces. There are instructions on how to use the applet to count faces, vertices, and edges in order to demonstrate Euler's formula but the formula does not dominate or even detract from a pre-k - 2 using it. The instructions are basic and appropriate but do not cover one keystroke that can be useful. If you accidentally hit a vertex or edge there are no instructions in the instructions on how to unselect it which would be helpful to be able to do if you are counting faces. There is a radio button called parent/teacher where unselecting is covered, pretty far into Euler territory. The parent/teacher button really offers a deeper explanation of the applet; it gives a good in depth description of the applet and the platonic solids. It is probably not appropriate for under 6th grade but might be of interest to middle and high school students.
As in the description of the purposes and goals for using the applet, the applet is designed to "Identify characteristics of the Platonic Solids" and it does this on many levels. At the pre-k -2 level a student can easily toggle between the five solids, manipulate the solids, color the faces (with a different color on each face if they want aid in counting) and count edges and vertices. This alone is a great introduction to the solids that requires point and click ability on a computer and mastery of a few radio buttons. A child can be up and running in 60 seconds, learning about the solids.
If the student can read and understands basic symbolic addition they can get quite deep into the actual mathematics of Euler's formula with almost the same key strokes. With a mentor a pre-k - 2 might get a basic idea of Euler's formula with the example of the tetrahedon or cube.
I looked back on Euclid's proofs for each of the platonic solids and it is clear that it would take a strong high school student to wade through the proofs and gain an understanding of the solids. This was of course the only way people were introduced to the solids (the minority who were) for almost 1800 years. This applet does a remarkable job of bringing the concept down to a level almost anyone can understand (or begin to understand). If you needed to describe the solids to your grandmother (assuming she was not a math teacher as my wife's was) you would happily reach for this applet.
The ability to manipulate the solids in 3-D and compare between one and the others, marking parts, really brings the solids to life. Just writing this blog and referencing the applet has taught me more about the solids than I could describe before. A picture does not give you the sense of symmetry about the vertices. A picture also does not draw the similarities of a cube and a dodecahedron so closely.
Wait if a picture is worth a thousand words, then this applet is worth?
So what was Euler's formula again??? Go play with the applet and you might remember.
Observing a child using technology
I introduced a kindergartner and second grader to several of the applets on the Illuminations website.
http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivitySearch.aspx
These applets do not really need any prior computer knowledge but fluent use of a mouse and left click button are highly recommended. I took these skills for granted with my subjects. They really needed to know point and click skills to be successful. The lesson I always need to relearn is that no matter what you think is the proper way to interface with anything in the world, small children will automatically try to interface with it in their own way, not by the rules. We started with an applet that showed three dimensional solids and asked for the number of sides, edges, and vertex's. Both children really enjoyed gripping the solid and spinning it around just for the effect of the motion on the screen, this was more fun than counting and coloring sides. In every case the kids made a point of pushing some game beyond its intended uses with the funniest case being an applet involving weighing and guessing shapes on a scale. The game turned into piling as many shapes on the scale, building "castles" on each side of the scales and ultimately precipitating a war between the two sides of the scale. Eventually I found my way to applets that were designed to build things using and manipulating geometric objects and the energy dropped to less bellicose levels and yet there was still full engagement.
We were using one screen and this did create difficulties. I found out that a child can visually learn as much in the role of a spectator while another child did the manipulation. That is to say the spectator learned just a quickly to "go click the spinney thing and make the blue thing go over up to the top" and the spectator would often beat the "driver" to such actions, perhaps because they were not as distracted by manipulating the mouse. The spectator though did not have a chance to learn the coordination associated with manipulations, this totally required use of the mouse to master.
The game we settled on was the digital analogue of a toy they have called "pattern blocks" from real world experience they knew the fundamental premise of the applet and were familiar with all its forms. It is hard to say how fluent they would have been if not exposed to the real wood block version, I'm not sure if their success in 45 min in mastering the manipulations is related to their prior exposure.
What did they learn? They certainly learned the specifics of the game's commands, but they also learned, again, how to deal with computers. They push the bounds, they hit radio buttons that have not yet been used and they try to turn the game on its head. In the end they master most of the commands through this approach. I think an adult is anticipating how the adult who designed the applet thought it should be used, and this will leave plenty of stones unturned, but in a simple case like this can lead to quick mastery. The kids have no sense of how it should be designed and they reach the same mastery. So what happens when the adult and the kids reach a really complicated technology with these differing approaches? The kids will probably still master it (by following a directory down to its lowest level just to see what is there and how far it goes. ) While an adult might just give up.
http://illuminations.nctm.org/ActivitySearch.aspx
These applets do not really need any prior computer knowledge but fluent use of a mouse and left click button are highly recommended. I took these skills for granted with my subjects. They really needed to know point and click skills to be successful. The lesson I always need to relearn is that no matter what you think is the proper way to interface with anything in the world, small children will automatically try to interface with it in their own way, not by the rules. We started with an applet that showed three dimensional solids and asked for the number of sides, edges, and vertex's. Both children really enjoyed gripping the solid and spinning it around just for the effect of the motion on the screen, this was more fun than counting and coloring sides. In every case the kids made a point of pushing some game beyond its intended uses with the funniest case being an applet involving weighing and guessing shapes on a scale. The game turned into piling as many shapes on the scale, building "castles" on each side of the scales and ultimately precipitating a war between the two sides of the scale. Eventually I found my way to applets that were designed to build things using and manipulating geometric objects and the energy dropped to less bellicose levels and yet there was still full engagement.
We were using one screen and this did create difficulties. I found out that a child can visually learn as much in the role of a spectator while another child did the manipulation. That is to say the spectator learned just a quickly to "go click the spinney thing and make the blue thing go over up to the top" and the spectator would often beat the "driver" to such actions, perhaps because they were not as distracted by manipulating the mouse. The spectator though did not have a chance to learn the coordination associated with manipulations, this totally required use of the mouse to master.
The game we settled on was the digital analogue of a toy they have called "pattern blocks" from real world experience they knew the fundamental premise of the applet and were familiar with all its forms. It is hard to say how fluent they would have been if not exposed to the real wood block version, I'm not sure if their success in 45 min in mastering the manipulations is related to their prior exposure.
What did they learn? They certainly learned the specifics of the game's commands, but they also learned, again, how to deal with computers. They push the bounds, they hit radio buttons that have not yet been used and they try to turn the game on its head. In the end they master most of the commands through this approach. I think an adult is anticipating how the adult who designed the applet thought it should be used, and this will leave plenty of stones unturned, but in a simple case like this can lead to quick mastery. The kids have no sense of how it should be designed and they reach the same mastery. So what happens when the adult and the kids reach a really complicated technology with these differing approaches? The kids will probably still master it (by following a directory down to its lowest level just to see what is there and how far it goes. ) While an adult might just give up.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Weekly blog from October 15th
The most significant thing I learned this week: Sketchpad. I have my usual questions- How can I make this software work? What do I want to learn more about? Duh: the dyna-graphs of course. Right away I remembered how we were supposed to memorize the basic graph shapes in Pre-calc and Calculus. This involved flash cards or photocopied sheets which gave you a one to one understanding of a shape to an equation. What if I could have also really intuitively learned how those functions' independent variables drove the dependent variables? I want to learn how to mke dyna-graphs.
Geometry has an infinite number of examples of shapes. We only learn a few, hardly infinite number of them, and let our brains build the sense of the infinite examples of a shape that are represented by a specific shape. Building and playing with the shapes in Sketchpad gets you closer to the infinite number of possible shapes than a year of diagrams could. Just monkeying with the shapes showed me new ways of thinking of shapes I thought I was completely familiar with. Teaching geometric shapes and teaching graph shapes seem like picking low fruit based on the power of what I saw in Sketchpad.
Geometry has an infinite number of examples of shapes. We only learn a few, hardly infinite number of them, and let our brains build the sense of the infinite examples of a shape that are represented by a specific shape. Building and playing with the shapes in Sketchpad gets you closer to the infinite number of possible shapes than a year of diagrams could. Just monkeying with the shapes showed me new ways of thinking of shapes I thought I was completely familiar with. Teaching geometric shapes and teaching graph shapes seem like picking low fruit based on the power of what I saw in Sketchpad.
Weekly blog from Octber 8th (late)
The most significant thing I learned this week was, through Robin's crash course, how to use Fathom.
Fathom raised two questions for me. First as a future teacher what can Fathom bring to the classroom. Second as a current undergraduate physics student, what can Fathom bring to my experience in Physics.
Fathom clearly offers a synthesis between symbolic representation of data and visual representation of data, and this synthesis seems to offer far more than the parts. We have always had tables and equations, and graphs. It is Fathom's ability to show the connections between both with such flexibility that is so powerful as a classroom tool.
More to the point was the question of whether Fathom could help me in my Physics Class. I got on a computer in the computer lab and Fathom's help includes some quick time video's on basic Fathom use (bring your ear buds(with a long chord)). These were great and had me beyond Robin's tour and building a graph for a lab I was working on. So In relatively short time I had a much better graph than I had been able to make in Excel. Then things stalled out. I was trying to label accuracy on my axes and I was not allowed to use non alpha-numeric characters (+/-).
I could not figure out how to add the and lines and arrows. The biggest problem of course was that my graph was only an image in my Word document that I submitted, there was no interactivity with charts since NSCC does not have Fathom. I think with time I could address these problems, but It must be included with any calculus of the effectiveness of technology: how long does it take to gain proficiency?
With Fathom I think you could set up a template with less that 20 instructions that could have done all I wanted to do. I think that falls on the teacher to do. I think it would be a great way to make graphs for science classes and to illustrate the synthesis I spoke of earlier I think it would be a great classroom tool.
Fathom raised two questions for me. First as a future teacher what can Fathom bring to the classroom. Second as a current undergraduate physics student, what can Fathom bring to my experience in Physics.
Fathom clearly offers a synthesis between symbolic representation of data and visual representation of data, and this synthesis seems to offer far more than the parts. We have always had tables and equations, and graphs. It is Fathom's ability to show the connections between both with such flexibility that is so powerful as a classroom tool.
More to the point was the question of whether Fathom could help me in my Physics Class. I got on a computer in the computer lab and Fathom's help includes some quick time video's on basic Fathom use (bring your ear buds(with a long chord)). These were great and had me beyond Robin's tour and building a graph for a lab I was working on. So In relatively short time I had a much better graph than I had been able to make in Excel. Then things stalled out. I was trying to label accuracy on my axes and I was not allowed to use non alpha-numeric characters (+/-).
I could not figure out how to add the and lines and arrows. The biggest problem of course was that my graph was only an image in my Word document that I submitted, there was no interactivity with charts since NSCC does not have Fathom. I think with time I could address these problems, but It must be included with any calculus of the effectiveness of technology: how long does it take to gain proficiency?
With Fathom I think you could set up a template with less that 20 instructions that could have done all I wanted to do. I think that falls on the teacher to do. I think it would be a great way to make graphs for science classes and to illustrate the synthesis I spoke of earlier I think it would be a great classroom tool.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Encounters with technology day 6
In my family there was always an aunt who was the central information keeper for the family. If you wanted to know what the latest family news was or what the history was on any cousin aunt or uncle she would know. With her death and the loss of the original family home she lived in the family became more difficult to stay in touch with, or at least stay up to date with. When the internet came along it heralded great promise to get the family back together, at least to stay in touchwith. But soon the banality of the web took over and with email and web pages the only real ways we could interact with the web the promise waned. When one cousin starts discovering conspiracy theories and sending out email warnings you tend to ignore all the emails that cousin sends, eventually when you change email you don't tell that cousin.
Web 2.0 is changing that, slowly, which is good because we are able to acclimate to it. Now I am friends with many cousins on Face book and I can check out their pages on my schedule. If they are ranting about some conspiracy theory they are not ranting to me, I am just a spectator, as I was at my aunt's house as she might have related their latest theories. I can laugh about it and move on but I am in touch as much as I was through my aunt.
This really hit home when by accident I searched my name on videos on Google. I came up with hits for two of my cousins who had video's on You Tube. Suddenly I was not only hearing about them from my aunt, I was watching their home videos and in one case their animation shorts from their art classes. I caught up with them over a few days of screen time.
The metaphor of web 2.0 as my aunt rings true for me and it really took writing this blog to make me see it.
Web 2.0 is changing that, slowly, which is good because we are able to acclimate to it. Now I am friends with many cousins on Face book and I can check out their pages on my schedule. If they are ranting about some conspiracy theory they are not ranting to me, I am just a spectator, as I was at my aunt's house as she might have related their latest theories. I can laugh about it and move on but I am in touch as much as I was through my aunt.
This really hit home when by accident I searched my name on videos on Google. I came up with hits for two of my cousins who had video's on You Tube. Suddenly I was not only hearing about them from my aunt, I was watching their home videos and in one case their animation shorts from their art classes. I caught up with them over a few days of screen time.
The metaphor of web 2.0 as my aunt rings true for me and it really took writing this blog to make me see it.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Encounters with technology day 5
My grandfather had traveled in Europe in 1912 and kept a journal. Many years ago I had transcribed it in simple text and it sat. Now I am actually laying out the route he took on the continent and inserting parts of the journal as text at the appropriate locations: 
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=112894907586536329163.00046dd0d33388ec4c76f&t=h&z=7.
It is kind of like he is blogging, some new bits and pieces appear on the web as I find the time. I really like that I able to get the journal out there. Only a handful of his many descendants have seen the original. The original is nice, but it is written in a loopy cursive which is a hard read. The reading is much easier on the computer. The really cool part is how it opens the journal up. OK here is where I trumpet the power of technology. I read the journal as text but it is really much more enlightening to read about his train going through a valley and switching to satellite photos to see the topography. Then he visits a castle, I can search for images of it on the web and see what it looks like, and this is actually harder for others rather than me just embedding the images into my map.
We have a little plan forming which is retracing the trip in 2012 on its centennial. I am not sure the journal alone would engage my boys but the Google Maps form of the journal just may. More later.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=112894907586536329163.00046dd0d33388ec4c76f&t=h&z=7.It is kind of like he is blogging, some new bits and pieces appear on the web as I find the time. I really like that I able to get the journal out there. Only a handful of his many descendants have seen the original. The original is nice, but it is written in a loopy cursive which is a hard read. The reading is much easier on the computer. The really cool part is how it opens the journal up. OK here is where I trumpet the power of technology. I read the journal as text but it is really much more enlightening to read about his train going through a valley and switching to satellite photos to see the topography. Then he visits a castle, I can search for images of it on the web and see what it looks like, and this is actually harder for others rather than me just embedding the images into my map.
We have a little plan forming which is retracing the trip in 2012 on its centennial. I am not sure the journal alone would engage my boys but the Google Maps form of the journal just may. More later.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Encounters with technology day 4
The big theme I have been hesitant to tackle concerns cultural attitudes toward technology.
I am not a big user of text messages. I have an old cell phone, and I get charged by message on my plan. The charge miffs me since it takes so many less network resources to send a simple text then to carry even a short phone conversation. I do use and insist on text for certain situations. If I need and address or phone number or a simple list of information I want a text if possible since I effectively get a hard copy on my phone. I also send texts if my information is the same kind of stuff. I request (by voice) the initiation of any texting.
Tonight I got a text from a phone number I (and my address book) do not recognise. My name was misspelled, and there was no from line or any indication of who it was from. Clues told me the message pertained to one of three houses that I offer warranty services on. I have never used texting to communicate with the three clients who might be associated with the houses. The text effectively scheduled me to come out to the house (whichever one it was) after 2:30 tomorrow. I was a little annoyed at it all. I had a little rant to Kathy about "who texts when their house is doing...?" Kathy pointed out that some people text in situations where they can not talk (work, in and audience) . OK but when your boiler is "dumping" water on your garage floor don't you find a place to make the phone call? I think phone calls like that are tolerated at work.
This is turning into a rant.
I think that when we use technology a lot we can forget that for those that don't, what we see as a reasonable way of using the technology can be confusing to others. If you have a qwerty keyboard you might underestimate how quickly and easily one can reply to a text with a simple cellphone. If you text with folks a lot they have your phone number and thus do know who you are, you don't need to sign your messages. The funny thing is most people still introduce themselves if there is any doubt when calling someone.
So let's imagine Harry in 1920, he gets a new phone and he starts calling friends on it. Now Harry is used to just starting in on conversations because Harry is used to face to face conversations. Now he has to be told that on the phone he has to introduce himself, even to people who know him well. A learning curve for Harry.
With all the technology today there seem to be varying learning curves. I think I am on the receiving of one, but perhaps I need to master my own. It can be hard to tell.
I am not a big user of text messages. I have an old cell phone, and I get charged by message on my plan. The charge miffs me since it takes so many less network resources to send a simple text then to carry even a short phone conversation. I do use and insist on text for certain situations. If I need and address or phone number or a simple list of information I want a text if possible since I effectively get a hard copy on my phone. I also send texts if my information is the same kind of stuff. I request (by voice) the initiation of any texting.
Tonight I got a text from a phone number I (and my address book) do not recognise. My name was misspelled, and there was no from line or any indication of who it was from. Clues told me the message pertained to one of three houses that I offer warranty services on. I have never used texting to communicate with the three clients who might be associated with the houses. The text effectively scheduled me to come out to the house (whichever one it was) after 2:30 tomorrow. I was a little annoyed at it all. I had a little rant to Kathy about "who texts when their house is doing...?" Kathy pointed out that some people text in situations where they can not talk (work, in and audience) . OK but when your boiler is "dumping" water on your garage floor don't you find a place to make the phone call? I think phone calls like that are tolerated at work.
This is turning into a rant.
I think that when we use technology a lot we can forget that for those that don't, what we see as a reasonable way of using the technology can be confusing to others. If you have a qwerty keyboard you might underestimate how quickly and easily one can reply to a text with a simple cellphone. If you text with folks a lot they have your phone number and thus do know who you are, you don't need to sign your messages. The funny thing is most people still introduce themselves if there is any doubt when calling someone.
So let's imagine Harry in 1920, he gets a new phone and he starts calling friends on it. Now Harry is used to just starting in on conversations because Harry is used to face to face conversations. Now he has to be told that on the phone he has to introduce himself, even to people who know him well. A learning curve for Harry.
With all the technology today there seem to be varying learning curves. I think I am on the receiving of one, but perhaps I need to master my own. It can be hard to tell.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Encounters with technology day 3
I am not an early adopter, out of financial necessity. I was trying to imagine what I might adopt if time and money were not an issue. When I really think about it I really covet ecological technology. The idea of getting our house off the grid: solar, wind, energy efficient, that would be cool. I sat on the computer today, a real grind, every so often I looked out the windows and thought I should build some storm windows this year. I guess that could be my energy efficient technology.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Encounters with technology day 2
I am still trying to work out the three separate systems that each of my three separate classes uses, Catalyst Web Tools, PB works, and Angel Learning (at North Seattle Community College). I hope that I continue to use them because there is a certain learning curve associated with each one. I wonder how the natives deal with such different systems. The low tech past had a much simpler set of skills needed to navigate academics (allowing me to make some very big assumptions about literacy and language) they were reading and writing. I am still not spending all my time doing assignments, I am getting fluent with each system and it distracts a little from the core subject I would rather be focusing on. Not to complain, perhaps this is the empathy I need for students. My Physics instructor assures me her learning curve is much steeper than that of the students not by virtue of her experience but simply because she is the teacher who has to set a lot of it up.
Friday, October 9, 2009
Encounters with technology day 1
I have been working all week on a small remodel, opening up a closet for the installation of a closet system and media center. I take for granted all the modern tools that all carpenters use. There are the saws that can shave off fractions of an inch off a board, all the air collection additions that allow you to do work in a furnished room with almost not dust, but the tool I certainly could not work without in remodeling is the nail gun. This is funny to me because in class there were a lot of metaphors involving hammers, better hammers etc. The nail gun is the ultimate better hammer its greatest and most important quality being that is can sink a 16p nail into wood with basically no vibration, impossible with a normal hammer and nail. So nearby plaster does not crack, cups do not fall off shelves upstairs. It is really remarkable. There is a price of course, cost of the equipment, complexity of the equipment, and safety. I have twice been injured by my use of a nail gun. I am going to think about what the cost are of technology as the week progresses
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
48 hours on Twitter
I certainly learned about Twitter and I learned a little about the other members of the cohort.
My experience with Twitter took a turn I was not expecting. I signed up my seven year old son and sent out an email to his closest relatives. Currently my 75 year old mother is on Twitter following my son (only 2% of Twitter users are over 65), they are separated by 3000 miles and do not see much of each other. So we have a soon-to-be-native, and an immigrant who is sort of still in the old world. The thing that made this happen is that from both of their points of view Twitter is pretty easy to use by both independently. They have both exchanged news about themselves which was slightly banal but does reflect their day to day life.
I got to interact with my son learning to use Twitter and this was huge for me. He learned about the shift key which was prompted by the spell checker always saying he was misspelling proper names by not capitalizing them (so he learned that the first letter of proper names are capitalized). The spell checker allowed him to work his way through all but his worst misspellings without my constantly calling out spellings. The spell checker was fascinating to him, looking at the choices and getting to choose the right one because he recognized it spelled correctly. It was all fascinating for him but but not for long, he quickly absorbed the lessons he learned and used them to move into new territory.
My kids are not exposed to a lot of media. They don't watch much TV, they play a video game called Crayon Physics which requires them to draw pictures that obey all the laws of motion in order to move a ball, but no wii. We don't impose this on them (well obviously we do) but it just seems that is the way we have all evolved as a family. Don't worry they play hard. Twitter seems a great start to his "nativness": it is teaching all the lessons I want, communication, writing and spelling skills, and basic computer fluency. Are there any computer naysayers who think this is a corrupting influence?
So Twitter: cognitively appropriate for 7 and 75 year olds and gateway app for young natives?
My experience with Twitter took a turn I was not expecting. I signed up my seven year old son and sent out an email to his closest relatives. Currently my 75 year old mother is on Twitter following my son (only 2% of Twitter users are over 65), they are separated by 3000 miles and do not see much of each other. So we have a soon-to-be-native, and an immigrant who is sort of still in the old world. The thing that made this happen is that from both of their points of view Twitter is pretty easy to use by both independently. They have both exchanged news about themselves which was slightly banal but does reflect their day to day life.
I got to interact with my son learning to use Twitter and this was huge for me. He learned about the shift key which was prompted by the spell checker always saying he was misspelling proper names by not capitalizing them (so he learned that the first letter of proper names are capitalized). The spell checker allowed him to work his way through all but his worst misspellings without my constantly calling out spellings. The spell checker was fascinating to him, looking at the choices and getting to choose the right one because he recognized it spelled correctly. It was all fascinating for him but but not for long, he quickly absorbed the lessons he learned and used them to move into new territory.
My kids are not exposed to a lot of media. They don't watch much TV, they play a video game called Crayon Physics which requires them to draw pictures that obey all the laws of motion in order to move a ball, but no wii. We don't impose this on them (well obviously we do) but it just seems that is the way we have all evolved as a family. Don't worry they play hard. Twitter seems a great start to his "nativness": it is teaching all the lessons I want, communication, writing and spelling skills, and basic computer fluency. Are there any computer naysayers who think this is a corrupting influence?
So Twitter: cognitively appropriate for 7 and 75 year olds and gateway app for young natives?
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Weekly blog from Ocober 6th
What was the most significant thing you learned in class this week?
The main point that was sent home to me this week was that while technology and the web offer promise of efficiencies and productiveness there is a steep set up curve. I have now been in classes for four school days and it has all been about getting used to new systems. It isn't that all my time is spent on the systems themselves, there has been some content absorbed, but a certain lack of fluency in navigating the systems has made my class and home work a little more hectic.
It is not just that I am an technology immigrant. It turns out that I'm the only student in Physics taking notes on a laptop, and there was student grumbling about the class not being listed as a distance learning class (it isn't). Lots of the younger (native) students were having trouble making sense of the class interface and the separate homework interface. I already am becoming more fluent and my self consciousness of being an immigrant has made me hustle to stay ahead.
Robin's goal of a paperless class is great but not having that several paper syllabus that gets handed out the first day took a little adjustment.I think I am finally getting a grip on all the online components of the Technology class.
What questions do you have and what do you want to learn more about?
I really would like to start to understand how we can critically evaluate technologies and teaching methods. This is what I would like to delve into in this degree. I think that first I have to settle on what we are trying to accomplish in education and when I have a clear sense of that I want to learn how best to address accomplishing this. If Twitter is a great teaching tool I really first need to articulate what teaching is before I can address whether Twitter is an effective tool.
What applications do you see to classroom practice based on what you learned?
With my limited sense of education and pedagogy the single strand that seemed to unite this last week was a germinating sense of community. In every case of the technology curve it was clear there were others on my path and all signs point toward these technologies showing me a little more about the people and subjects in the classes than I would traditionally see. This is no critical evaluation but I sense that this new expanded view can help the classroom.
The main point that was sent home to me this week was that while technology and the web offer promise of efficiencies and productiveness there is a steep set up curve. I have now been in classes for four school days and it has all been about getting used to new systems. It isn't that all my time is spent on the systems themselves, there has been some content absorbed, but a certain lack of fluency in navigating the systems has made my class and home work a little more hectic.
It is not just that I am an technology immigrant. It turns out that I'm the only student in Physics taking notes on a laptop, and there was student grumbling about the class not being listed as a distance learning class (it isn't). Lots of the younger (native) students were having trouble making sense of the class interface and the separate homework interface. I already am becoming more fluent and my self consciousness of being an immigrant has made me hustle to stay ahead.
Robin's goal of a paperless class is great but not having that several paper syllabus that gets handed out the first day took a little adjustment.I think I am finally getting a grip on all the online components of the Technology class.
What questions do you have and what do you want to learn more about?
I really would like to start to understand how we can critically evaluate technologies and teaching methods. This is what I would like to delve into in this degree. I think that first I have to settle on what we are trying to accomplish in education and when I have a clear sense of that I want to learn how best to address accomplishing this. If Twitter is a great teaching tool I really first need to articulate what teaching is before I can address whether Twitter is an effective tool.
What applications do you see to classroom practice based on what you learned?
With my limited sense of education and pedagogy the single strand that seemed to unite this last week was a germinating sense of community. In every case of the technology curve it was clear there were others on my path and all signs point toward these technologies showing me a little more about the people and subjects in the classes than I would traditionally see. This is no critical evaluation but I sense that this new expanded view can help the classroom.
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