Jethenia

//Jethenia,

Your reflections bring up some very interesting points. I understand your misgivings regarding fair use, though having it a bit more open to interpretation could lend more flexibility to your practice. We will be talking about alternatives to copyright law that are currently available by using Creative Commons, and I will also be sharing some other great copyright resources if you would like to pursue that topic further. I liked your thoughts about block scheduling and how it is better suited to technology integration. I agree with you on this and believe that a 45 minute period simply doesn't lend itself to solid tech use and project-based work. I also liked your thoughts about on-line learning for some but not good for others. My question is, are we even providing enough on-line learning to those who can do it? Why not?

Thanks for sharing!

David //

April 4, 2010: 5th Reflection After reading the fair use guide, I think I am more confused about fair use than ever. According to the guide, there have not been very many court cases regarding fair use and when there are, everything is left up to interpretation. I am a person who likes to follow the rules, thus I need to know exact guidelines so I know what I can and cannot do. Because there are no set rules, I guess I could be called the educator who hypercomplies to the law. I understand that the laws for fair use were made broad so that educators have more leeway in their use of copyrighted material, however I would feel better if they were more narrow. The guide suggests that educators should be leaders not followers and test the limits, whereby possibly changing policies. As an educator with obligations to my family as well, I do not feel that I should risk my career or financial stability to take these risks. I thought the principles and myths mentioned in the guide were somewhat helpful. I feel that the common thread between all of the principles and within fair use is that the limitations are basically to use only what is necessary to accomplish the educational goal. Even though I have read this guide and have also attended a professional development on fair use, I feel that I am left with more questions than I have answers.

April 4, 2010: 4th Reflection

At Springdale High School, Pflaum found out that only eight out of thirty students completed an online course that was set up through the school. He discovered that this was due to the fact that students did not know their teacher. I believe there are pros and cons to online courses, some which outweigh others for each individual person. Some students are more independent and are able to read, learn, and test on their own, while others need the guidance of a teacher. Some students have the initiative to complete tasks without a required deadline (not that some online courses do not have deadlines), while others need to be pushed by that deadline. I understand the students’ point of view that they like to know their teacher. I feel that creating a connection with your students is important to gaining their trust and eventually helping them succeed. We continue to say it time and time again, but training came up at Springdale High School also. If teachers are not trained on computers they are less likely to feel comfortable infusing them into their curriculum. Maggie Lewis, the technology coordinator at Springdale explained that she would like teachers to use technology more for problem based instruction, however I think that she is missing another key tool that teachers could be using technology for. I believe that teachers could also use technology to strengthen skills. There are great websites out there that teachers can find to help hone their students’ skills on particular areas. I believe that some teachers would be more comfortable implementing a lesson plan that has the students use a website to practice a skill, rather than for discovery. I feel that teachers may be more receptive to this strategy at first, and I also feel that this would require a little less training first time training. Using technology for skill strengthening, I believe, might help teachers see the value of technology, and therefore they may become more interested in implementing it into their lessons with different ideas. One more thing that caught my attention from Pflaum’s visit to Springdale was while he was talking to Ms. Lewis. He asked her how she would implement technology into the school and one of her replies was that she would change the schedule to block scheduling. We have block scheduling at my school, and I do agree it is more cohesive to technology use. With the time it takes for students to get their computers, get logged on, and figure out what the task is, there might not be enough time to complete the computer activity with a 45 minute schedule. It is nice to have an hour and a half, that way the students are able to concentrate and complete the task at hand and there is still enough time to wrap up or review at the end of the period. I feel that if we went to a 45 minute schedule it might deter some of the teachers from using technology due to time constraints.

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March 25, 2010: 3rd Reflection

In part two of Pflaum’s book, he gives a lot of credit to a couple of different schools. He attributes their success of technology integration to strong leadership, and support from teachers, school board, and the community. I however, do not feel that their implementation of technology is any better than the first few schools he described. I do agree that implementation of technology goes a lot smoother with strong leadership, and support from different areas. St. John’s High School provides their faculty with continued professional development, which is imperative to integrating technology, however they also have problems in their classrooms. There are so many pitfalls in using technology in your classroom, which would make it impossible for every lesson to run smoothly 100% of the time. Pflaum explains that St. John’s High School was recently rewired for the use of technology in the classrooms, however the setup of the rooms were hindering the education of the students. Some students had their backs facing the teacher and others had their laptops open and were not paying attention to the teacher. I don’t know if there is a cohesive setup or great way to monitor use of all computers in the classroom while a teacher is still instructing. Also at St. John’s, Pflaum described the situation of a teacher giving geometry homework on the computer. Students did not understand how to complete the problem without the aid of the computer, which scares me. I hope that with all of this technology we are not depriving our students the opportunities to think analytically for themselves. While reading about these different schools, I continue to wonder, “Does educational growth outweigh the cost of technology?” Because there is no real way to measure growth from technology, I don’t know if I will ever have the answer. If you do see growth in student performance, there could have been numerous variable changes, which would make it hard to pinpoint what source was most effective.

Jethenia,

You mentioned the students' backs "facing the teacher" and that was one of the first comments I noted. My initial reaction was "why don't you walk around the classroom and observe what your students are doing"?? I always "circulate" when my kids are working on laptops. If they know you're involved and interactive, they'll stay on task. As for measuring growth, if your test scores "jump" 50% in one year and that's the year you introduced technology....it's a no brainer! However, for most schools that's not a realistic scenario! (partner Peggy)

March 17, 2010: 2nd Reflection While reading about Pflaum’s experiences with the first five schools, there were a few statements that caught my attention. The first of which was his statement about strong building leadership. I believe that leadership is truly essential in the development and implementation of technology into the curriculum. I believe that without a strong vision and goal, instruction will fall short of objectives. If there is a framework behind the implementation of technology into the classroom, then teachers might be more willing to incorporate technology into their lessons. If leadership simply says that they want to see technology incorporated into lessons, teachers are more likely to resist. However, if leadership explains the process and steps into completing this process, teachers may not be so resistant. Another statement that Pflaum made was about teachers needing a sense of ownership. In his statement he referred to those teachers who actually constructed computers, however I have seen this from a different perspective. When the CFF program started a few years ago, it was on a voluntary basis. Those teachers who wanted to participate (in core subjects) were able to join. Later, some teachers were asked to join the new wave and they agreed, not really knowing what it would entail. Some teachers were receptive to using the technology, and others, because they did not join voluntarily did not use the technology that was provided. I believe the resistance stemmed from them not really knowing what was expected of them and not joining voluntarily, per say. The last statement that Pflaum made that I found interesting not only in a technology sense, but about curriculum in general, was about coordination between and within schools. Without curriculum coordination, there could be disconnects of crucial material that students are missing. It is imperative that teachers discuss curriculum within not only their departments, but others as well, and also between schools. As with the Harriet Tubman Elementary School, our school has a program that will turn 4-Site testing into data for each student. We are able to see the information for each student and the areas that they need to work on. I think this is a great tool, however I sometimes feel that there is too much data to look at, not only with technology, but with all of our other assessments as well. As a teacher, sometimes all of the data is overwhelming. Organizing this data can be quite complex, not to mention all of the steps and passwords it takes to access this technological data. Even with all of the great uses of technology, it is easy to understand how some teachers are apprehensive about using and incorporating it into the classroom.

Hi Jethenia....(Peggy)

You can copy my notes if ya want partner! (Andrew)

March 9, 2010: 1st Reflection I believe that technology is the future. It is imperative that we embrace technology, and prepare our students to be comfortable with a multitude of technology equipment and software. One of the initiatives at my school is to incorporate technology into lessons to enhance student learning. I use technology quite a bit in the forms of calculators, a SmartBoard, laptops, the Internet, and the software program Geometer’s Sketchpad. I feel that the integration of technology gives the students practice and also affords them the ability to manipulate figures and develop hypotheses that they may have otherwise not been able to do with pen and paper. I also feel that technology enhances their imagination. Because hardware for technology can deteriorate, it is unlikely that the conditions for technology in school will ever become “ideal.” Along with the use of technology comes the cost of repairs and upkeep, not to mention the cost of software programs. In rough economic times like these, expenditures for technology might be one of the first things to get cut from a school budget.

There are a few standards from the NETS that I thought were key to implementing technology into education. I feel that one of the most important standards for administrators is to provide opportunities for faculty to gain more knowledge about technology and improve their skills. One issue with introducing technology into the classroom is teacher buy in. If teachers are not willing to spend the time to learn sometimes-complex systems, it is difficult tochange their attitude. However if you do have teacher buy in, it is very important that you support those teachers in need with professional development. Along with that, I think the most important standard for teachers is to continue their education on technology. As technology changes, we have to allow time for educators to become more familiar with these changes and be able to adjust accordingly.