My first 5 Links on diigo

here they are

Week 4 - Vision of Technology Integration and my digital footprint infographic

“What a computer is to me is it's the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It's the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”

Steve Jobs  (link goes to the video where he says this)

I love that quote.  When I first read it a few years ago it was so taken about by how clearly and concisely Steve Jobs summed up my feelings on not only computers, but technology in general.  None of us are born knowing exactly how to ride a bike, but we all can.  Some people get it faster than others.  But any way it happens you need to take time, patience, practice and realize that you are probably going to fall.

hang in there buddy!

But it is something we can all do because there are all sorts of bikes people ride, most have two wheels, others three … some even have four.  But what matters is that just about everyone can, in one way shape or form, ride a bike.  The same is exactly true with technology.

laugh, but she will probably kick your butt at wii bowling

Probably the best argument for why technology is pivotal … assistive technology.  I found this heartwarming video and corresponding article from Edutopia.  Honestly if you watched that video and your heart did not melt… you may not be human.

The one thing though … why the heck did it take so long for some of these students to get this technology?!?  Oh yeah, because the traditional pedagogy of how we should teach (pardon the passive aggressive hyperlink), says we shouldn’t.

On this point I draw a lot of inspiration from my wife, Lisa, who is a Speech Language Pathologist in a school where she works with preschool aged children.  Lisa is admittedly not a tech person.  But just seeing the leaps and bounds that these young kids make when utilizing technology, has driven her to work on implementing technology more and more into her what she does with the kids.

it's not like these guys have a way to access the greatest collection of knowledge ever created

When Lisa integrates that assistive tech with her kids what does she see?  More and more children being able to communicate.  If they did not have the assistive tech?  They are probably struggling more, being pushed though a system that does not adapt to their needs, and leaves them on the outside because they don’t neatly fit in the system.

So the question becomes what can I do in my career to help.  The first thing I need to start doing more of, advocating.  I would certainly not start off on as grand a scale in the link, but getting involved in a movement or just doing the most I can in my area.  Why is this vital to the success of technology integration?  Because, just like with my wife, many people don’t think they are tech literate … until they see how their students will thrive.  

But also where student assessment is concerned.  If I can learn to be more open minded when it comes to the various ways students take in knowledge I can be a much more effective teacher.  I can show them how to mind their digital footprint and how important it is to be a good member of society, even when they are online.

EMC2's Digital Footprint Calendar

Also, not just teaching to specific technology.  So I’ve seen many videos (including the one we watched the first week of class) where it spoke to how we are training our students for jobs that may not exist yet.

I feel that if you teach to just one specific piece of technology you will be missing out on so much more.  And, though it may look good on your yearly observation, you are not really doing a great service to the people you are teaching because chances are it is going to become obsolete.  

do you really need that calculator?   this works just fine

I think, in a way, this is part of the fear of technology.  It is constantly changing and evolving.  In conclusion, that is how we need to teach our students.  How to change, shift and evolve.  How to utilize specific skills they have to overcome the obstacles they will face in life.  Just like riding that bike, we don’t give up when learning gets too difficult.  We stick to it and adapt, maybe we find a bike that fits our needs better.  Or maybe, we reinvent the bicycle.

Week 3 Literature Review: Gamification in Education

I remember this from 3rd grade,
but no high school math

A few days ago I walked into the class across the hall while John (who teaches American history to 9th graders) was in the middle of teaching class.  He asked me “what do you know about the Oregon trail”, I replied “I know even if you hunt 900 pounds of meat you can only bring 100 back to your wagon”.  It was a reference to the old educational gameThe Oregon Trail.  He laughed understanding just what I had meant and I left, smiling.  A few minutes later I found a site where you can play it online and let John know once his class finished.  We reminisced about how awesome this game was and how much we retained from it, even though nether of us had played it in over 20 years.  Ironically, one of the first articles I found researching for this post referenced the Oregon Trail.  I was stunned, but shouldn’t have been, gamification is a topic many education professionals are talking about and for good reason (from the Oregon Trail article): 

 “According to research cited by MIT, students can remember only 10 percent of what they read, 20 percent of what they hear and 50 percent of what they see demonstrated. However, when they actually do something themselves, such as in a game or virtual world, the retention rates skyrocket to 90 percent”

I always wanted to attend class in tiger stripes

I’ve always been intrigued by the idea of gamification in the classroom.  The idea that instead of just talking to students while they sit in their chairs, you get them actively engaged in what you are teaching.  They create their own personal avatars for your class, who can join groups, level up when they participate,  or when they do well on assessment, and earn badges.  Students can see a tangible growth of their knowledge manifest itself though those same dynamic avatars and virtual rewards.  It makes sense since most kids are already gaming in one way or another plus, they are clearly intrinsically motivated to play video games in the first place.

The more I read  the more excited I got.  Then, on a Sweetseach I found Classcraft.  

I signed up for free and within minutes dreaming up ways of implementing it in my classroom.   I even tweeted about how cool I thought it was using the hashtag gamification, and I got a new follower who I ended up following back.  One step toward building a new professional learning community that I can rely on for support in my new endeavor.

Classcraft may be a bit too robust for everyone. In most of the articles I read, they suggest to start off small.  It is important to remember this is not about revamping what you teach, only your approach to teaching. 

I also found an article on how to make gamification work though your class website.  Why? The benefits here are that students can stay connected to their work and access it whenever the want.  I like to think of it as education on demand.  This crucial because you need to be able to reach out to students in many various ways.  Perhaps in class they be too shy to answer questions or get involved, but though the site they can actively participate and be an essential part of the classroom community.

I know this is a long post but I’m just so exited, I can’t stop thinking about the potential.  In closing, gamification may not be right for every educator because everyone has different approaches.  But, if we are willing to take a risk I believe that there will be a payoff where students are more actively engaged in their learning,are retaining much more information, and feel like they have an investment in the time they spend with their teachers.  I look forward to implementing it in my classes and will he happy to share how it goes here.

Font rant and Avatar goodness

One of my first projects for Graduate school is to create my own avatar and incorporate it into the blog.  I figure that while I'm figuring out the ropes of using blogger, I would create this post to see how it looks.

One of the things that has stood out to me about blogger, is the lack of the font "Helvetica" when you are choosing a font in the design of your blog.  I'm happy that I am currently typing in it, But I did end up having to use "Droid Sans" as the main font for the blog design. 

Just seems like an odd choice not to include Helvetica as an option.

Below is the avatar I created using Bitstrips avatar creator.  Making it was a really neat as they allow for a whole lot of customizations down to facial features (important for those with dimples).  I greatly enjoyed being able make it for free, and it turns out Bitstrips is really cool ... when not clogging your Facebook feed :-)