Learning Is Social Media

Three years have passed since I last blogged. I am happy to say I have been done my Master's for some time! Today I am at a MTS conference entitled "Learning is Social Media." We have been bombarded with a number of very useful tools. I particularly like the activity where we incorporated video to reflect on the first day. There are some very talented people who made a high quality video in a few minutes. The challenge of incorporating video with students is making sure the student’s adequately plan, and produce a product that allows them to demonstrate their knowledge of course content. More importantly, students should see the content as relevant and connected to their own life. That is very challenging and worthwhile work!

Reflections On The Course

The presentations on Thursday were well done. The tools that were introduced seem to be very useful and I am looking forward to playing with some of them during my month off. The Cuban book was insightful. He shared a lot of the same views as Oppenheimer, but I think he did a better job of backing his claims with sound research. We really have to stop using technology as a vehicle for ``transforming`` teaching practices. The tools may keep changing but it is ultimately up to the teacher to change their teaching practices. This can be accomplished more effectively through PD, learning networks and more prep time rather than spending money on the latest and greatest technologies. Many gains in student achievement that are attributed to technology are actually the result of a change in teaching practice. For any new initiative to be successful, sufficient training is most important. Having an Smart Board in my classroom does not make me a good teacher; just as having lips does not make me a good kisser! Knowing when, and how to use your tools (or tool) appropriately is what counts.


Now for my thoughts on the course...

I will be honest in saying the first few classes intimidated me a little bit. I didn't quite understand where Denis was going with the course. The philosophy and the readings where foreign to me. I was an expert in my school who knew all the tools, but I did not have a broad picture of what technology was really about. Over time, Denis and the whole class environment really did enlighten me. Again I thank all of you for you bricks. Now, I have a much broader view when it comes to technology. In order to grow as a professional I really did have to trust Denis, and I am glad I did. This is the first course in my program and it put me back in the role of a student; something I have not experienced for 10 years. I never appreciated how much trust a student puts in a teacher until now. For trusting us, we owe our students a great deal; to start we should trust them with technology by minimizing filters and implementing creative way of using hand held technologies in the classroom.

Heidegger taught me many things; The most important being that the essence of technology is nothing technological. In education, technology should be infused with the main purpose of helping students succeed. Technology does not and can not replace good teaching. Good teachers use technology appropriately, and in a manner which allows students to explore curricular content in context. The second thing I learner from Heidegger is that when you are not an "expert" in the field, shift the debate to a field in which you are the expert. I apologize for sharing with you my passion of mathematics education!

The blogs and the class discussion were a blast. I truly enjoyed class, and the reflection time that followed. I commented on everyone blog at one time or another. I would have liked to comment on more blogs but life and family got in the way (as it should).

A "Word map" or "World Cloud" with the 75 most common words that appear in my blog is shown below. The larger the font the more it appeared. I am proud of how my word map turned out. The two most prominent words were students and technology. In reflection I truly believe that all the technology that we use in our schools has to benefit our students in one way or another.



click on the image for a larger view
Created with http://www.wordle.net/

Convenience and Technology

I am back from my trip to Minneapolis. It was a pretty smooth trip. My old car held out, and we made it back safe and sound.

Before I went on my trip I bought a new laptop computer. I had good intentions of writing my blog when I was down there but I never got around to it. Although I choose not to write my blog, I did have the option of writing my blog from the convenience of my hotel room. Without the laptop I am sure I would have said to myself "If only I had a laptop I could write my blog." I am not upset with myself for not writing the blog, for I was having too much fun with my little girl, but it was still nice having the laptop. While I was at the mall I also bought a GPS receiver and some trip routing software. I have been to Minneapolis several times and I really didn't need the GPS, but I was nice having it in case I got lost. Technology these days seems to be more about convenience than necessity. I see one big difference between technology in Heidegger's time and now. In Heidegger's time technology such as the hydroelectric power plant served and continues to serve society well by making electricity affordable, and available for everyone. (But at what cost?) Technology such as the motion picture helped the allied forces win the war (Recognition of a Japanese Zero). Today technologies such as GPS, laptops and I-phones are used more for entertainment and to keep us connected. Essentially we can live without the fancy toys but we cannot live without electricity and the technologies of the past. Take away my I-phone but don't take away running water and electricity!

The truth is today's modern technologies are going to evolve into something that we cannot live without. In 50 years from now someone will look back and see the technologies of today as essential building blocks to our new way of life. People managed before hot water was in the homes, but today we cannot live without it. A convince becomes a necessity when we incorporate that technology into everyday use. Network technologies are already controlling heating and air conditioning systems, controlling refrigerators, traffic flow, and making sure our water in drinkable. I am no futurist, but these seemingly innocent entertainment type technologies are going to evolve and control our lives so much that they become necessities.

A Busy Night

Well Denis missed some wonderful presentations. I hope both Gary and Denis are feeling better soon.

It was very interesting to hear the Kaiser report once again. The last time we discussed it was back at the beginning of the course, and I like to think that some of my opinions and thoughts have been shaped and molded since I read the report some time ago. Lana gave an interesting perspective on the report. When organizations are involved in big research studies I immediately become suspect. Like Mike pointed out in his previous post, I was surprised that the data suggested kids today are still just as active as the kids before media use was so prevalent. I see two trends at my school: kids who play every sport, and who are involved in everything; and kids who are not so active. Either way all of these kids have cell phones, i-pods and can multitask. I thought it was very insightful for Lana to give the example of the two students in her class and how they interact with technology. For one student he was able to benefit and get his work done when listening to music, and for another she was "rocking out" and could not get anything done. As a teacher it would be very hard to convince the individual kids of such differences, and it would be even harder to allow one kid to use the i-pod and another one not to use the ipod in the same class. I allow kids to use i-pods during silent study/work time. This study verifies for me that most kids can in fact multitask. At the same time students see media as primarily an entertainment device so we must be careful about the use of media in the classroom. It is a lot more fun to play a game on your i-pod than it is to use the calculator on it so it puts teachers in a difficult position. I am almost at the point where I will take the risk in my classroom and allow students to use i-pods and other wireless devices on a more consistent basis. All I need to do is trust them.

The e-learning presentation by Roman was equally interesting. The main point from this article as I see it is, e-learning will not take off until it is supported by faculty. These programs are more expensive to run than traditional classrooms, and they take more time to run. Why would someone knowingly sign on to something that will take more time out of their lives without being appropriately compensated? As a result, e-learning is only ever going to be popular and successful in the case where there is need; and the need is in rural areas that do not have the same educational opportunities of bigger centers.

Roland's presentation on 21st Century Skills was well done. The background into the American political structure was both informative and entertaining. As Roland pointed out the battle between the left and the right has been going on for a long time now. This battle is no different than the one that has been going on in mathematics: The traditional standards versus the reform standards. I am currently reading a book entitled Assessing Mathematical Proficiency by Alan H. Schoenfeld, and Schoenfeld cites several studies that assert that the chosen standards do make a difference:
Students who experienced skills-focused instruction tend to master relevant skills, but do not do well on tests of problem solving and conceptual understanding. Students who study more broad-based curricula tend to do reasonably well on tests of skills (that is, their performance on skills-oriented tests is not statistically different from the performance of students in skills-oriented courses), and they do much better than those students on assessments of conceptual understanding and problem solving. (pp. 63-64)
I agree with a lot of what the 21st document has to say, but it is not about creating new courses it is about infusing those ideas into our core curriculum. Reform based math calls for all of the skills that are in the 21st Century Document. Creativity, critical thinking, problem solving, flexibility, and leadership are a few of the skills that need to be stressed in our math classes. Students need to see math being used in appropriate contexts so that they can identify with the math and see it as something useful. Please click on the following link and read this quote by Schoenfeld:
In short, if you believe that mathematics is not supposed to make sense, and that working mathematics problems involves rather meaningless operations on symbols, you will produce nonsensical responses such as these. (p. 70)

Schoenfeld, A. H. (2007). Assessing Mathematical Proficiency. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Learning, Training, Olympics and Drinking

Well it seems like an eternity since I lasted blogged so I have a lot of catching up to do. Firstly, the presentations I have been viewing over the last few weeks have been very well done. It is amazing how much information is getting packed into these 30 minute sessions.

The first presentation on the Kirschner article was a welcomed relief to math teachers who still teach math as they were taught. This method of teaching is the traditional instructional approach that follows two basic steps. Step One: Here are some examples. During this step the teacher puts the examples and the board and the students copy them down (never to look at them again). Step two: The students are assigned the odd number exercises in the text book. During this step the students complete 53 questions exactly like the examples, and if they get stuck they should refer back to the examples and try to think harder. If they get stuck a lot then they should take consumer math.

Luckily no teacher that I know is like this. Most Teachers fall somewhere in between a traditional (guided) instructional approach and a minimally guided instructional approach. When I first started teaching I was more on the side of traditional instruction; After all mathematics consists of right and wrong answers with set procedures to help you arrive at the correct answer. What I began to notice was that following this approach students eventually started losing their ability to think. If there was any sort of twist to a problem, students would become discouraged, frustrated and give up. (Now I am sounding like Oppenheimer). To students in a traditional classroom, it is all about the right answer, and what they are learning seems insignificant. To encourage my students to become better problem solvers, I have adapted an inquiry approach to many of the concepts that we discuss in class. Students figure out for themselves, for example, how different formulas relate to graphs. How the discriminant determines what the quadratic graph will look like. One point that I totally agree with Kirscher is "discovery learning is only successful when students have prerequisite knowledge...."(p. 82) The teacher must demonstrate good mathematics, but at the same time allow the students develop their own context for mathematics. The way I see math is very different from 10 years ago. Now I see my role as developing problem solvers; to not only show students how to think, but to allow them to think. Ten years after my students have left high school math, they will forget most of the procedures and algorithms I taught them; but hopefully they are still good problem solvers. If they are good problem solvers then they are well on their way to having a good life.

Another point that came up in several presentations is the importance of training teachers how to use technology. During my presentation I shared with you that schools should budget 25% for software; 25% for hardware, 50% for planning, training and other support. Oppenheimer stated that most schools only leave 10-15% for both maintenance and training. It is sad to think that all the money is spent before the teachers learn how to use the technologies. What a waste. I do see evidence of this at my school. What about you guys?

Lastly I will not talk too much about the "Maple leaf Forever" song other than to say that O'Canada was all used up so they needed to go with another standby. It was a great song, but the world wide viewing audience (myself included) was not aware of the history that surrounds this song. It was all about the entertainment value, and the song happened to fit. The whole image around the Vancouver Olympics was quite interesting. My Principal was mentioning how it is shocking of the number of athletes that were drinking on television. She, being a national athlete herself, is well aware that athletes can drink and celebrate with the best of them, but was disappointed that this was reported on so extensively during the games by the media. I really think the "reporting" was a successful attempt to make Vancouver and Whistler appear to be hip. How many times did we hear "Canadians can really party!" during these games? I think Apple and Whistler are trying to attract the same demographic: The young twenty and thirty something reality TV generation that has money to spend and likes to party. The level of excitement surrounding the Games is similar to the “consumer level of excitement” that the technology industry strives to create. Hmm, excitement! Maybe Whistler for spring break!

Assessment

Mike started a good conversation about assessment. My definition of assessment is the process of gathering information on a student. What you are gathering should give a overall picture of what the student knows about a particular unit or outcome. Types of assessments can be summative assessments such as unit tests and term assignments, or formative assessments such as quizzes, homework, and the completion of daily work. Only summation assessments are for marks because formative assessments are designed to help students master the outcomes. I believe that evaluation is the process of a teacher assigning a grade to all the evidence that has been gathered. Student input should be welcomed in designing rubrics and setting due dates, but overall the teacher uses their professional judgment to assign a grade. Exactly what you are assessing is determined by the outcomes that the students are trying to achieve.

In Thursdays class much of the conversation centered around assessing students work who do not have good computer skills, and recognizing that for some students in takes more time. Luckily for me I do not have to assess computer skills, as I am a math teacher. Certainly a students math skills, and computer skills are not mutually exclusive but when assessing a students work I try to mark fairly, with an emphasis towards mathematics competency. In fact when I use the computer lab with the math class it is often an exploratory activity whose sole purpose is to aid in future discoveries. As such, the work that we do in the lab is purely formative. Students that can demonstrate an ability to problem solve with technology usually seem to demonstrate the same ability without technology so the techies are not at a disadvantage. The line becomes a little more unclear in my Applied Math 20s class. Here students use a graphing calculator every day. My focus over the last few years has really shifted away from evaluating the students ability to use the calculator, to the students ability to do math. Before I used to teach calculator now I teach math. Although many of my questions require the use of the calculator, my assessments require a high level of cognitive demand. Rather than asking a traditional regression question and having the calculator do all the work, students are required to think and extend beyond what is written on the screen. Students have to collect really world data, and perform the appropriate regressions that make sense. I seldom use the variables x and y and prefer variable such as height and time, or population and year. These variable have more meaning, and extrapolating with real world variables is more useful and easier to understand. Stats Canada has a lot of real world data that can be easily incorporated into meaningful lessons. The essence of algebra is not x!

Students who are not tech savvy should not be punished in a math class, but there are certain procedures that they have to become familiar with. In a similar fashion students who are tech savvy should be allowed to demonstrate their technological ability, but they should only be assessed on their mathematics ability. Math teachers should not be tempted to overuse technology and have students making videos, and electronic presentations. Let’s leave video editing and PowerPoints to the technology (and English :)) classes, and let the technology teachers assess those products in relation to the ICT framework.

Plagiarism & Course Reflections

Everyone is so keen in this class that I am having a hard time competing. I didn't realize I was in the middle of a fierce competition until I read some of the blogs :)! Whenever I have something interesting to say someone says it before me. Whenever I have something interesting to write about, someone writes about it before me. Someone always beats me to the punch! It has only been two days since class and already everything that I was going to write about has already been written by everyone else.

This, however, is not the most humiliating part of this class. The most humbling part of this experience is not only are people stealing my ideas, they are taking my ideas and running with them. They are explaining them in a scholarly manner; much better than I could ever do. People are knowledgeable, well-read and precise. They are articulate with their explanations, and everyone is able to synthesize ideas from class with their own experiences.

Luckily, I am far more excited to be part of this group than I am humbled. I have been learning so much from interacting with my colleagues. In my undergrad degree I was competitive, now in my masters program I am a participant. The insight that goes into these blogs is amazing. Denis is not the only one laying bricks! Everyone in the class is laying bricks. My mind is being shaped as a result of this course. So many strong thoughts have resonated with me and changed the way I see technology in the classroom. "Technology is a process." "The essence of technology is by no means anything technological." In addition, in constructing these blogs this "forced reflection" time has allowed me to take the time to reflect; Not only on this class, but it has allowed me to challenge the way I am using technology in my own classroom. Is it really to the benefit of my students to power point all my lessons? Am I an overpaid university grad who worked hard for the first few years of teaching but now gets paid way too much to push the space bar? Convenience for me and flashy lessons for my students are sometimes necessary to maintain sanity, but this should not be the norm in any classroom. CONTENT MATTERS!

So how does plagiarism, bricks and reflections all tie together? Simply put we are all laying bricks. Sometimes we use someone else’s bricks, sometimes we don't. Using a few bricks from someone else is not plagiarism. Kicking someone out of their "Cathedral" and moving in is plagiarism. As the course changes pace, it is up to us to lay the bricks. Denis has given us a good foundation on which to build. I look forward to all of your presentations and I would like to thank you in advance for your bricks. As for the competition aspect I am much like the sole athlete from Jamaica at the Vancouver Olympic games; I don’t expect a medal but I am grateful to be here, and I am grateful for the opportunity to test myself against some of the best.