bensblogs

The following blog/podcast relates to a site that showed a large number of webquest ideas that could be used in different learning situations. I have attatched a podcast with my feelings on the site.

webquests3

Along the same lines as my last post when I looked into podcasting in Education, I thought with all the blogging I had done I should read some literature about its use in Education. Of the articles I read I found one particularly interesting.

The article (Indigenous students connect with blogs) was about an Indigenous Education officer from Toowomba. It discussed how she used blogging as an educational medium to teach her students when she went on a holiday in China. She suggested that the students responded enthusiastically, asking all sorts of questions about China.

This was an interesting article from my perspective because it made me realise that one of the main advantages of using technology in education is its ability to be used not only in the classroom, but also outside of it. If a teacher and class can communicate from China to Australia, the opportunities are almost endless.  

Seeing as we have learnt how to create podcasts in our tutorials I thought it would be a good idea to read up on them as well. An interesting article I read discussing the use of podcasts in schools by Will Richardson was titled “How to Use Podcasts at Your School”. The article had links to, and discussed numerous ideas for the inclusion of podcasting in different areas of schooling. The last quote about podcasting suggests “As with blogs, the possibilities are only limited by your imagination.” (Brooks, iPod).

I like that quote because as with any learning technology podcasting will only be as innovative as the teaching methods that accompany it. However I believe if used well, it would be a very engaging method that students would enjoy and be very willing to participate in.

I Just finished reading a blog by my online lecturer Maree Skillen titled “Socialising in Cyberspace.” The author stated that young people today, or at least some young people today are more comfortable communicating via this technology rather than face to face.

In my opinion this is one of the very issues we have to be very cautious of when pushing the use of technology in our classrooms. The risk of kids becoming socially inept is a very real and serious one and when the research states that todays generation of students already have a huge reliance on technology in their lives, we need to balance the level of technology used in the classroom. (Or more specifically how it is used!)

 We as teachers need to be concerned with finding the balance between what is the best way to communicate information to our students with what is the best way to help our students achieve in all aspects of their lives.

Today while searching through literature on the internet, I came across a site that I found really useful and interesting regarding issues of technology in education. The site is called ‘New Horizons for learning’ and has a huge selection of readings.

I read through some of the articles and will continue to do so but was instantly impressed by the statement on there homepage about technology in the classroom. In my opinion it is foolish for any teacher to think that just because they are using technology they are teaching in an innovative way. Technology based activities, just like any other teaching or learning methods, are only as good as the teacher implementing them. Following is the quote from New Horizons which I think all teachers need to think about when promoting technology in their classes.

“Appropriately used– interactively and with guidance– they have become tools for the development of higher order thinking skills. Innapropriately used in the classroom technology can be used to perpetuate old models of teaching and learning. Students can be “plugged into computers” to do drills and practice that is not so different from workbooks.”

I just finished reading Kristies ideas about weblogs in education. I thought the point she raised about using blogs to provide information to the parents and the community was a really good one. I had up until now only really thought about how to use blogs in the classroom, but in this day and age allowing parental and community involvement in this structure is a great idea.

It could solve many of the problems of parents not being in contact with teachers due to time constraints from either party and would be a simple way of keeping interested members of the community up to date with activities in the school.

While searching for literature relating to technology use and students, I encountered a lot of press regarding the increase of technology in society being a contributing factor to the increase in obesity levels.

I have attatched links to a few of these documents: A paper by healthways WA, an article by Healthways on computer games and health issues and information on computer use and health risks.

All of these allude to the role technology and its use may play in obesity levels. I chose to include this on my blogs page because I beleive it is just as important to educate teachers about the possible risks of technology use, as it is to educate them of the benefits. This is not to stop its implementation, but to give all teachers the knowledge to inform students about both the benefits of technology and the risks of using it to excessive levels in their lives.

Reading Toms blog regarding the article relating to technology and teaching, I thought he made a really good point about how much school has changed since he was there as a student. (And he only finished in 2004). I personally finished in 2000 and found a noticable difference in many areas of schooling including students use of technology. Becoming aware of these issues is crucial for us as teachers, however solving the issues is another matter. At my practicum the high school I was at had one smartboard, I was told the local primary schools have one in every room.

To me this is a huge issue as the students get use to the level of technology in their classrooms then are frustrated by the down grade when they reach us at high school. I guess I’m trying to point out there are many issues involved with technology in our schools. Some (Like awareness) are in our control, others (Like funding) are not.

I just finished reading a blog by Tom Angus who was discussing his opinion on an article relating to the widespread use of technology by the generation of kids who are either in our schools or will be in the next few years. What stood out to me was how taken aback Tom was by the sheer volume of technology used by our students these days.

Personally I, like Tom have only just discovered just how great a part technology plays in the lives of the students we will teach. Further to this, as Tom suggested we as teachers need not to just be aware of this, but to apply it to to our teaching strategies.

To better get my head around the constructionism learning theory I went to the following Wikipedia page to get a basic run down.

I agree that a teacher assisted learning rather than directing is an important teaching strategy in many of the concepts taught in schools. I further agree that the computer is a strong tool for promoting Constructionist learning in the classroom and I have no hesitation in incorporating it in my lessons where I can. 

However I don’t see the technology as the be all and end all of being a constructionist teacher. In PD/H/PE a lot of the concepts in the subject revolve around real life experiences such as peer pressure and drugs, or risk taking behaviour and driving. Class discussions focus on these issues that have/or will come up in the students lives. In these instances the teacher is there to assist students to understand how different choices lead to different outcomes, giving them the knowledge to make the safe choices but not directing them on how to live their lives.

The real learning occurs outside of the classroom when the students choose whether or not to apply their knowledge in real life situations. As the Wikipedia article suggests the students are learning by “actively making things in the real world”(Wikipedia)

The PD teacher cannot direct a student how to live their life, rather provide options to assist them. I see this as just a relevant mode of Constructionist learning as the mode focused on using technology.