Reflecting on Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasting

My classroom has long moved passed the textbook, boring worksheets, and teacher-centered lessons. The Internet had become an additional resource for my students and my teaching has moved from the simple whiteboard to the use of PowerPoint for most of my presentations. However, after taking the course Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education, Work, and Society, I realized that I was moving in the right direction, but I my students needed the content and standards to move toward the 21st century. The course has introduced me to the world of Blogging, wikipages, and pod casting. Before this course, I had no idea educators were using these technology tools in the classroom.

Throughout the course, I became overwhelmed and confused at times; however, as time passed, blogs, wikis, and pod cast became very familiar. I learned that my students were soaring passed myself and other educators. Our students have been surrounded by technology since they were born (McHale, 2005). According to Prensky, most teachers have entered a world where we are digital immigrants to technology world (p. 1). Our students have grown accustomed to the cell phones, ipods, video games, and many more electronic gadgets. Because of my realization that I am a digital native, I realize that there is a need for me to continue beyond this course to increase my knowledge of the skills that students require to grow and succeed in the world today. My perspective from forcing content on students has changed. I realize they must work together to become contextual learners that are preparing for the real world. Students value the time to work collaboratively with their peers. The use of technology by the students is more important than the use of them by the teacher. As Thornburg (2008) states, many students will enter the workforce expected to be ready to use these technologies.

I am fortunate that I teach in a system that wants to move forward with students using more technology. We have many training sessions for SMART board trainings and other In-tech trainings as long as the budget permits. My first step to changing my classroom is to approach the system technology person about lifting the use of educational blogs in the classroom. I know that our teachers and students can benefit from the use of class blogs. We can work together to use more collaboration with other subjects and work with classes from the same subject. I would also like to see the school create a Podcast system for each grade level and subject area. The Podcast would allow teachers to talk about homework, projects, how to complete assignments, etc for students and teachers to access. This would be a team effort for all teachers to complete across the school. I feel this is an issue that I would have to approach my principal about, and continue up the chain of command.

The course was one of the more challenging throughout my master’s program. This comes from the lack of knowledge of the content, yet it was one of the most informative classes that I have taken. I will hope to continue my blog throughout my teaching.

McHale, T. (2005). Portrait of a digital native. Technology & Learning. Retrieved from http://www.techlearning.com/article/4572, April 1, 2009.

Laureate Education Inc. (Executive Producer). (2008). (Thornburg, David, and DeDe, Christopher, Speakers). Program: "The Changing Work Environment" [Educational Video]. Los Angeles: Solution Tree.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants. On the Horizon.

Tim

Technology in the Elementary Schools

This past week I had hoped to talk with students from my own school, which is a rural middle school in Northeast Georgia. The school system is a one county high school, one middle school, and five elementary schools feeding the high school and middle school. Unfortunatley, the students and teachers were on spring break this week. I was not able to interview any students; however, I was able to track down an elementary school teacher (my wife) that was "eager" to share her experiences with technology in the classroom.

She has taught in our school system for two years. Before coming to our current school district, she taught in a more affluent school for six years where students had more access to technology outside of the home versus the district we both teach in now. Our current school district has a high number of low-socioeconomic students. Access to technology is not as prevelant as the previous school she taught in before coming to her present school.

The following is the podcast:

http://www.gcast.com/u/tdrake/main

The 21st Century version of Education

Apparently our schools are not only struggling to meet standarized test scores, but they also are not connecting our students to the 21st century as far as technology and collaboration. I have had the chance to explore the website http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/, which is a website that promotes the skills and technology that is needed for students to progress in the next phase of the workforce in the 21st century. In the mission of the site, the site mentions how our students are suffering a gap between knowledge and skills they aquire from school and the ones needed for the 21st century workplace. The site is a well organized site which promotes its own standards and thoughts about the content that should be presented and taught in schools to better prepare our students for the future. Our "good ole" core is intact along with creativity an innovation, critical thinking skills (which I believe most schools are emphasizing), communication and collaboration within the sites standard frameworks. There is also a direction to implement media literacy, implementing technology into the schools and pursuing life skills. Is this not a great idea to add to the core skills? Yes, our schools and students are falling far behind in the race to compete in the 21st century. So, in that regard, the 21st century site is attempting to inform its readers a very positive and needed strategy.

Do we see this helping our schools? Well, from the schools that I have taught in and visited, not really!! Why, well this is what the site fails to mention. There is a huge cost to add this amount of technology to schools, and now is not the time for school systems to increase the budget. The site also mentions through the "Route 21" link that teachers should be provided with effective training and support for 21st century skills in the classroom. Wow! The thought of learning how to use the technology and gain valuable lessons would be refreshing to most all teachers. Hopefully most schools are not telling them the same my system is doing, we have no money for professional developement.

Overall, the idea of developing our students for the 21st century is where we need to be. I like other educators around me, are worried that we are falling behind because of limits our administrations have on them with time, budgets, and test scores. I would recommend to review the site especially the frameworks because they go beyond the traditional standards and open our eyes to what we could have eventually have in the class.

Tim

Can we force our way through the blog barriers?

Until March 2nd, I honestly had not really thought of using blogs in my class. There can be a couple of reasons for this. One, I have been so focused on teaching standards, and two, every blog website at my school is blocked by "websense". I began to venture toward one of my favorite blogs, and the old blocked message of "social and networking" appears. While the idea of using blogs for student interaction with eighth graders is a pretty interesting thought, I simply can't at this point in time. Now, the question is what can I do to enable this for my students. I have spoken this week with the technology person at my school, and I was not surprised by the response of how we would open the system to myspace and facebook, etc. if we unblocked these sites. So, let's be optimistic and imagine we have the power to blog at school. What could the students gain from blogging about Georgia History? Would I gain a better perspective of the students thoughts? Would they work better together without the teacher looking over their shoulder? Blogging does have a real chance to enhance learing. The students could use it to have many debates over the Civil Rights movement, the reasons for the Civil War, and many other events within the content. I also feel that a class blog would be useful for students to simply exprees their thoughts about the class. What could help them learn and understand the content better? How would they change the way the class was structure? Although there are ways to use blogs for class purposes, the main challenge is breaking down the blog barriers? Any thoughts out their for this seemingly impossible task at the moment?!

Tim

Dazed and Confused with Technology

As a veteran teacher of twelve years, I have navigated my way through the era of handwritten report cards, vcr's, and overheads to emails, grades reported on the computer, learning Power Point, and using different software within the confines of the classroom. Now, I feel behind and overwelmed again when it comes to technology in the classroom. I am slowly learning how to use WebQuest and Smart boards, but the idea of using blogs, wiki pages, and podcast is blowing this "traditional" teachers mind. Hopefully, I can find some help and advice on how to deal with the new wave of technology that is entering our schools. The students are moving at a much faster pace than we are as veteran teachers. So, as I learn to blog, maybe some experts out there in cyperspace can give me an extra hand as I make this journey.

DrakeDawg1