September 29, 2007
In July and August ‘07, the Centre forLearning and Performance Technologies polled “learning professionals”, bloggers, and others, asking these contributors to rank what their top learning tools were out of a list of 400 possible choices. The list ranged from the purchased and high tech software like Outlook to the old school paper and cardboard book.
Said one polled contributer, “The Book – if this weren’t a technology-focused list, this would be number one. Still, what other learning tool requires no power, is lightweight, carries so much information and can withstand being dropped in the bath? Gutenberg, 557 years on, we salute you!
Topping the list by order of popularity is the web browser Firefox – getting raves for it’s “ease of use,” functionality, and add-ons which “make it useful in many different situations.”
del.icio.us got the next most popular ranking among those polled. The social bookmarking tool was considered “indespensible” for 40% of the respondents for their personal learning.
And so the list went – Skype, GoogleSearch, PowerPoint, WordPress, Gmail, GoogleReader, and Word rounded out the top ten in popularity. Those creating the poll emphasized in their analysis that the rankings of any one individual item wasn’t really the point:
The ranking in the Top 100 Tools list is relatively unimportant – it is the range of tools that are being used for learning that is the key take-away here, and which demonstrates that (e-)learning is not just about online courses (which is still the view held by many people) – but includes education, training, information sharing, communication and collaboration.
I have to believe them on this one…after all, -”the written word” - the foundation by which all these other tools are creatively used, only tied as the 43rd most popular tool.
September 22, 2007
Lost on my title? Allow me to translate…
“Talk to you later.”
“Why?”
“Because… parent over shoulder.”
(…which means: my mom is staring at the computer screen so don’t type anything that will get either of us in trouble)
My daughter doesn’t realize I speak “text” (or txt, rather) – I like it that way…I keep tabs and she doesn’t realize it. But that’s not for this post. This post is about the idea of discussing writing “conventions” (and presentation, really) with your secondary students. Txt is a language of the young. It is a written language. It is shorthand and electronic. The young live, eat, and breathe this language by cell, IM, and email 24/7. It is their native language – we will not break them of it – we must accept that. Obviously not all conventions or presentation problems found in classroom writing are texting-based, but txt does creep in. The lack of capitalization and punctuation is an acceptable convention of instant messaging and texting as the message box only allows 160 total characters. And capitalization requires several convoluted cell phone key punches. In addition, txt spelling is phonetic to eliminate excess letter characters and the time it takes to formulate a response. When a teen has 14 friends in a chat room – time of response is vital.
I don’t write this to excuse the poor conventions of the Gen Wi-Fi writers, but I do want teachers to understand where their students live. Remember when you were listening to “your” music as a teenager and your parents told you it was awful and to turn it down? You simply rolled your eyes and thought they just had no idea what current life was really about…welcome to current life.
Rather than simply stating that it is unacceptable to turn in work with poor conventions – and editing away the texting habits of a generation – open up a discussion (especially with high school students) – about appropriate time and place for different kinds of writing. In the same way that we use a comma after the greeting in a friendly letter and a colon after the greeting in a business letter, the conventions for punctuation, spelling, etc., change for the digital environment one is in as well. Help students to arrive at examples like: An email to your teacher or boss *should* be clean of “txt”, but an email or IM to his or her friend could be filled with it. Also, you might steer the discussion toward first impression judgments potential employers, college admissions officers, or others of importance in their future might make of the student, if all they had to go on was a piece of writing with misspellings, no capitalization, and no punctuation. If students can understand the authentic reasons for proofreading, editing, and revising, they will be more inclined to voluntarily do it themselves.
Your thoughts?
(Revised and reposted from my same article on Dennis O’Conner’s 6 Traits Resources Blog)
October 16, 2006
What’s your guilty pleasure TV show? You’re first pet? Where was your last vacation? Favorite song in high school? Of the following two sentences, pick which one is true about me: A) My hair is blonde B) I believe in the power of Ice Breakers for online teaching.
Nothing builds a community faster than allowing a group of individuals, sometimes perfect strangers, to share a silly little tidbit about themselves and bond over flavors of lattes, ice cream, or pizza toppings.
Online classes can be tension-filled places, especially for newcomers to the online format, and facilitators should take the opportunity to lower the anxiety often in the first few weeks of a course. Ice breakers work in the online classroom the same way they work in a face-to-face course, or your neighborhood Tupperware party – they allow each person the chance to share a little bit of themselves in a non-threatening environment, to get over the hurdle of the initial posting without fear of “the grade” or “judgment” of their classmates, and to connect with others they may never meet in person on a more personal level.
What’s the answer, you ask? American Idol, my dog Brandy, Chincoteague (of Misty fame), Van Halen’s Jump, and “B” – definitely “B”!
Anyone have a great online ice breaker to share?
Tags: Teaching,
Education,
Online,
eLearning,
Communities of Practice,
Web2.0,
Ice Breakers
October 3, 2006
In my pre-course survey I asked my Read 088 and Eng 100 community college students (age range 17-36) the following question:
8. When you think about classes in which you learned a lot but still had fun, what kind of activities did you do in class and what kind of out of class homework was expected of you?
Here’s a sampling of the anecdotal answers:
group activities in class and in homework
group activities in class, but could still do it on my own
It was a topic I was interested in, so I payed attention. I think that’s what matters, if I am interested.
work outside of class,talking in class
Lab work. Hands on work.
We did a lot of practice, but the teacher made it fun. We would have silly hw assignments like go home and write a parapraph about your dream home. It allowed us to use our imaginations yet still be doing something that would help us in the future.
very visual classes and on hands experience
hands on stuff with skits and what to do if situations
I did a business latter[sic] and had to send it to them
…she made us do cool assingments that were outside of school that we could have fun doing for example one assignment was going to any restuarant to eat and observing what people would do, then have a class discussion about it the next day.
We wrote about ourselveves and what we’ve done all of our life
it was a more hands on class, such as art, or a lecture class where you have to particpate
There was a lot of hands on activities in class. I like to have class discussions and be able to study with other classmates
Plus labs everyday during class time
I LIKE TO INTERACT WITH OTHERS
We got in groups a lot and talked as a class a lot. Presentation was expected.
We would do group activities in class
Activities we did in class were debates, labs, and just flat out talking about a subject we all were interested in.
Activities with others in the class. (group)
we did labs like science type labs
I learned a lot in my English class when I first came to CC, she let us discuss a lot with each other
Of the 32 respondents to this particular question – which required them to type in any answer of their choice – 20 answered in words that can directly relate to the Read/Write Web. These students stated that they learned the most, and enjoyed a particlar class the most, where they had interraction with their peers (collaboration), and where students did “hands on” activities incorporating “tools” of some kind (Constructionist and integrated technology). Students mentioned homework writing assignments for reflection and then making presentations with and to their peers later (Connectivist and Constructionist theories). Perhaps the most telling component of these admittedly non-scientific results is the fact that these students were not asked about a technology-infused course, and most were not speaking of such courses. They were talking about their high school math, English, American history, or basic college psychology course.
If teachers are applying the concepts of Web2.0 to their technology-poor classrooms and metacognitive learning increased for students, this surely is a call for the application of Web2.0 technologies where access to equipment is not an issue.
Brain research on learning supports it, educational research on learning supports it, and even the students are supporting it.
Why don’t more teachers know about it?
Tags: Teaching,
Education,
Online,
eLearning,
Brain Research,
Web2.0,
Digital Literacy ,
Best Blog Practices
September 29, 2006
My college reading class was discussing the Lonelygirl15 video blog phenomenon the other day in which an actress and script writer “fooled” millions of viewers for more than 4 months by having her pretend to be a 15 year old girlbeing raised in a very strict religious household. Lonelygirl15 had posted video “diaries” every few days on YouTube.com about her daily angst as a “teenager.” (She later was outed as an actress and appeared on Jay Leno as herself – a 20something graduate of NY acting school).
I’d written a blog post about it, included some of the video, and assigned my students to read it and post a reaction to it – this was to promote their digital literacy skills. To my great surprise (Prensky didn’t prepare me for this), about 40% of my students in this class, while liking the subject matter, have not liked going out on the internet. I did all the normal preteaching – demonstrated where the site was, how to make a comment, gave them a handout to take with them even – but there has been some complaining. So I took the time yesterday to investigate the root of the problem…and I think I get it.
It’s “The Gap.”
Most of the students in my classes were students who were in remedial or “basic” courses all through their public education, according to my pre-course survey, and some did not graduate at all so they are completing their ABE or high school diploma here at the college. They didn’t go to the computer lab in College Prep Biology; they didn’t use graphing calculators in Advanced Algebra because they never took Advanced Algebra; and the highest form of technology they use regularly is a cell phone or maybe an .mp3 player.
Even at their young age…they are digital immigrants…and are resistant to the technology. Comments included, “I prefer working with paper and pencils” or “I hate that in all my classes at this college it seems like every teacher is trying to make us use the computers in some way” and “All this logging in stuff for every little thing is confusing.”
I keep having this image of the wave of immigrants coming to this country in the late 1800s and early 1900s – those that adapted to the language and culture survived and thrived, while those that didn’t became increasingly closed off and dependent upon others to translate so they could get basic goods and services. And then I project into the digital future another 10-15 years, and I wonder what is in store for the type of student sitting in my class.
Will the digital divide become something insurmountable? A digital abyss?
Tags: Teaching, Education, Online, eLearning, Digital Literacy, Prensky
