What Have I Learned?

As this class comes to a close, I think back on everything I have learned from Curriculum Technology Integration. Before this class, technology integration had a very different meaning to me. I knew some of the benefits of technology in the classroom, but it was simply a supplemental tool to enhance lessons. When I thought about technology integration, I thought about presentation software, word processing, and search engines. Now I understand that technology and Web 2.0 tools can create a truly 21^st century classroom and prepare our students for the future.

Web tools can create classroom community through collaboration and communication. Classroom blogs can encourage students to express themselves while peers, teachers, parents, and other community members are able to view and comment. Blogs can include discussion of content learned in the classroom, or teachers can pose questions to get students thinking about a topic that will be introduced. This encourages reflection and metacognition. Blogs are also a way to simply allow students to write whatever they want to write about in order to build writing and communication skills. Wikis involve collaboration as students work with peers to create a piece of work for others to use as a source of information. Web tools give students an opportunity to have a large audience for their work. There are also tools that can connect the school to the community and create awareness and interdependence.

Technology can no longer be used as a supplemental tool in the classroom. We must move toward a technology-rich curriculum that uses 21^st century tools to engage, teach, and assess modern students. When thinking about a topic for this blog, I wanted to write about something that concerns me as an educator. One of the ideas that have stuck out to me most in this class is how our current methods of assessing students are often very outdated and an ineffective measure of what students have learned. Technology and Web 2.0 tools give us the opportunity to teach our students in a more meaningful and relevant way. It also gives students more flexibility and individuality in how they showcase their learning. We are able to assess deeper learning in a way that a written test cannot.

Web 2.0 tools are not only beneficial to students, but for teachers and administration as well. Administration must lead the way for teachers, and teachers must lead the way for their students. As awareness increases and more people understand the importance of teaching these 21^st century skills, I hope that our schools will become places that guide students to become effective and valuable citizens for the future.

Typing: Only for High Schoolers?

With all the new and emerging technology our digital native students are using in and out of the classroom, most of the younger students are still “hunting and pecking”. In my school system, students do not learn the correct way to type until tenth grade, but computer use begins in kindergarten. This is a huge gap and while letter recognition and language development come first, keyboarding should be taught much earlier than high school.

Letter recognition is developed in kindergarten and students are readers and writers by the end of first grade. I think second grade would be an appropriate time for students to begin using correct keyboarding style. This way they can begin using the tool of their generation for educational tasks more effectively at a younger age. In order to use Web tools for research, projects, and assessments students must be able to type effectively.

Students are using computers, laptops, iPads, smart phones, and other technology in and out of school. If students learned the correct way to type, all of these activities would be easier. Many tools are becoming touch-screen but the layout of the letters remains the same. Keyboarding is simple to learn and there are many fun, interactive activities to teach children how to type.

We, as 21^st century educators, want to use Web tools to teach our students 21^st century skills. These skills could be developed much more effectively if students were comfortable and competent with the keyboard layout. They need this skill to be able to communicate. This issue is one that comes up in my mind as I think about integrating technology into my instruction in an elementary classroom and even in middle school.

                Some of the students with special needs that I work with are learning to type because they do not have the dexterity to write. They carry and iPad with them to help them communicate and complete instructional tasks and assessments. They use computer programs that use simple steps to teach them to type using the correct hand positions. It also teaches the different features of a keyboard. I would like to see all elementary age students have access to this kind of program.

                A blog on “Ask a Tech Teacher” suggests 18 kid-friendly sites that are fun and easy ways to teach typing to elementary age children. They suggest using both computer programs and online games. There is also an online keyboarding course for elementary students at Keyboarding Online.org.

Online Keyboarding Course

18 Kid-Friendly Sites for Keyboarding

Safety First!

Before we can begin to teach and assess our 21^st Century students using Web tools, our students must know how to use the Web and technology safely and responsibly. If your school has already implemented the use of technology, your students may already have this knowledge. If you are at the beginning of this journey, it may be your responsibility as a classroom teacher to teach these critical skills. Many students are familiar with if not experts with technology. However, they may or may not come to you knowing how to use technology safely and responsibly. These skills are important not only as the students use technology for academic reasons, but as they continue to use technology throughout their lives for various purposes.                                                                                                                                                           

 The way you teach acceptable use can build a sense of responsibility, community, collaboration, and safety in your classroom. If age appropriate, the year could begin with groups of students researching and presenting information about safe and responsible use of technology and the Web. The students could work collaboratively with their group, each student having a specific job. The students could use various resources such as the Internet, books, articles, parents, police, and the school’s Acceptable Use Policy. This activity can cover state standards, get the students using technology, and start the year off with a sense of classroom community. If the groups work together effectively, the groups may be used throughout the year to complete collaborative projects using Web tools. This activity also gives the teacher an idea of how the students work together and what problems may need to be addressed early on.

                Using the Web gives students the opportunity to connect with many different people around the world and use various resources to gain knowledge. Unfortunately, our students are extremely vulnerable to exploitation and harm. It is critical to give students guidelines so that they communicate safely and appropriately. There are many warning signs that your student is communicating with an online predator. Teachers, parents, and students must understand and be able to detect these warning signs.

Children and teenagers are naturally curious, and with the plethora of information available, students must know what sites are legitimate.  Our students must learn how to tell if a site is legitimate and if it contains trustworthy information. Our students must also know what sites are appropriate. Most schools have a filter that blocks most inappropriate content, but they can never be trusted to block all inappropriate content. While we can give our students guidelines, close monitoring is still a must.

There are many resources that give information on internet safety and acceptable use. Here are just a couple:

Internet Safety Guide

Internet Safety Policy and Acceptable Use Policies

Social Bookmarking

              I recently got an account on a social bookmarking site called Delicious. Social bookmarking is a Web 2.0 tool that can be very useful. As I found a site I liked or thought would be useful, I added the link, gave it a name, gave a description of the site, and added tags. Tags are key words that can be searched and can help organize links by subject. Social bookmarking is a more effective way to sort bookmarks rather than saving to favorites on a Web browser. When bookmarks are saved on a Web browser, they can only be accessed by that particular computer. Social bookmarking allows anyone to access the links from any device with Internet.

                Social bookmarking sites can be used by anyone. Even if someone does not have an account, they can go on the site and search tags and find links to what they are looking for. This tool can be very useful for research, finding recipes, writing an academic paper, professional purposes and many other uses. It is also useful for sharing resources with others. This tool is “social” in that the user becomes a part of a large network of users in which everyone shares information with each other.

                Social bookmarking is useful as a teacher in several ways. As teachers find sites that are considered professional development, they can save them to their account for future reference, or to share with colleagues. Teachers can use this tool to collect appropriate links for students to access for a research project. Students can also create their own account to organize and save sources for educational purposes. For my purposes as a graduate student and teacher, I gathered sites that relate to my blog topic and class content as well as sites that I found personally interesting as an educator. Some of my favorite resources on my list include blogs by teachers, articles about Web 2.0 tools, some informative videos, professional development information, and sites with helpful tips for teaching 21^st Century learners. My bookmarks can be accessed and used by other professionals in my field to improve their teaching practices.

                As I created my bookmarking site, I realized how user-friendly this tool was and how helpful it is to be able to access these sites so quickly. The site has a button that you can drag to your browser toolbar so that when you find a site you like, you can just click the button and it will automatically save to your Delicious account. The tags are a way to keep the links organized, and another way is a feature in which you can “stack” your links into lists by topic. This site also allows you to import bookmarks from “favorites” in your browser. You can follow profiles or stacks that you find interesting in order to build your repertoire.

                I will continue to use this tool to organize and save links that I find interesting. I highly recommend social bookmarking for anyone who wants to be able to find sites quickly and easily without having to search for them all over again.

>Here is a link to my Social Bookmarking site<

Students Collaborating with Experts

I recently read in Best Teaching Practices for Reading by Randi Stone about a teacher that found a creative and innovative way to motivate her struggling students to become successful at reading and writing. Carla Hurchalla of Salisbury, Maryland is a Title 1 teacher whose students had little support at home and did not view themselves as readers and writers. She designed “Authors in Residence” in an attempt to change their attitudes toward this subject. This program gives students an audience to write for as the final product is published on a Web page for all to see. The students collaborate with real authors through e-mail and other Web tools to complete a writing project. The students search the Internet for information on their topic and their assigned author. The goals of the program include strengthening students’ communication, letter-writing, creative writing, and informal writing skills. The ultimate goal is for students to become life-long readers and writers. The collaboration with authors was intended to motivate students by giving them authentic opportunities to interact with real published authors. After brainstorming, the students develop rough drafts and work with their mentor author to turn it into a publishable piece for the audience.

This teacher saw her students make progress as they participated in a meaningful learning process. Her students learned how to use e-mail, create a Web page, and search for new books. This real-world application proved to be an effective strategy and some of the students continued to keep in touch with their mentor author. Hurchalla suggests that this strategy can be used in any content area as tudents may collaborate with experts from various fields.

This program engages students in the writing process and implements connectivist ideas as the students collaborate with a mentor author through Web tools. The students learn to communicate effectively using the Internet. Students are not simply told to write about a certain topic, but are given the opportunity to interact with an expert to help and encourage them in the process. I think “Authors in Residence” is a great way to develop 21^st Century skills while also developing an appreciation for reading and writing. I think this type of strategy would be effective in almost any content area. Students can use various Web 2.0 tools to communicate and collaborate with experts of different fields. This strategy is another way for students to create something not only for a grade, but as a presentation that they can show off and be proud of.

Article discusses the importance of online collaboration for students

Project-Based Learning

              Before we can assess our students innovatively, we must teach our students innovatively. One of my favorite instructional approaches is project-based learning in which students engage in authentic learning activities. After a question, problem, or challenge has been presented, the students participate in a motivating and engaging process of inquiry. Groups of students work collaboratively on a project in response to the driving question. The students are held accountable for their individual input as well as the overall final product. Students are also given the opportunity to give and receive feedback, reflect on their process, and make revisions.  

                With an endless supply of information available through the Web, we can hardly expect students to sit through a long lecture to receive information when the same information can be found in seconds using the internet. PBL gives students a chance to learn in a way that is natural to them.

                Students are given a degree of freedom in their research, organization, and presentation. This can be scary as a teacher to let go of some control. The students must learn communication, team work, responsibility, organization, and various ways to present learning. The teacher must teach these prerequisite skills and design and a project that requires students to use 21^st century skills to learn academic content. The teacher must also monitor, manage, and assess student learning.

                Many Web 2.0 tools can be used in PBL. Google docs, wikis, PrimaryPad, and many other tools are available to help students organize, collaborate, and present. www.go2web20.net offers an extensive list of online tools and applications. Not all of these are appropriate for classroom use, but teachers can explore and decide what would be beneficial for their students.

                PBL can be use as the main instructional strategy used in all academic areas, or it can be used on occasion. Projects may vary from a few days to a whole semester and can be used in any grade level in any subject. Teachers can assess student learning by using rubrics that measure objectives displayed in the students’ presentations. Rubrics are a great way to measure meaningful learning. As students use various Web 2.0 tools and presentation software to display their learning, the teacher can have a list of criteria that must be met. A rubric allows the teacher to list what objectives are to be met and to what degree the student demonstrated mastery of these objectives.

                This innovative approach to learning gives students the opportunity to exercise critical skills for the 21^st century such as problem solving, critical thinking, inquiry, collaboration and communication. The students can create something for an audience of more than just the teacher and take pride in their finished product. This is an exciting way to look at the learning process and students may not even realize all that they are learning. This approach is a more natural way to learn and helps students retain information and apply it to real life rather than simply cram for a test and forget the content almost immediately.

BIE.org offers many ideas and resources for PBL.

Integrating Web 2.0 Tools into PBL Webinar

Why Use Web 2.0 Tools in Assessment?

            Assessing 21^st century students does not necessarily mean we must use only Web 2.0 to do so, but it does mean that we must not ignore the fact that our students will need the skills to be able to participate in our increasingly technological and global world. We must also consider what is engaging to students and what will allow them to use higher-order thinking skills. Students are so often forced to express their learning in an outdated, inaccurate, boring written test that requires mostly recall. Why not use Web 2.0 tools that so many students are familiar with to truly assess meaningful learning? Educators can find any excuse to not use these type tools to teach and assess students: not knowledgeable about the tools, not enough access to technology, too complicated, hard to grade, and so on. Let us find some reasons we should use these tools in instruction and assessment.

In college, I had some experience with presentation software and e-portfolios. These forms of assessment were actually fun! I was able to do my own research as well as take what I had learned from class and experience and create something that I could be proud to show to my professors and fellow students. Now, in my masters courses, I am using a blog to showcase what I am learning. Our students are fully capable of using these tools and should be given the opportunity to do so. Learning should not be an uninspiring, tedious process. We as educators are responsible for developing life-long learners who enjoy the learning process. After all, our world is changing so fast that our students must be able to keep up.

Formative assessment is a great way for teachers to monitor learning and check for comprehension of content at intervals. If a student is not grasping a concept, we msut intervene to ensure mastery of knowledge and skills. Blogs are a great way to do this. A teacher could require that students post a weekly blog about what they are learning. The teacher could give certain criteria that must be met in the blog, and the students could have the freedom to express what they have learned in their own words. This type of formative assessment is appropriate for college students all the way down to kindergarten (as I mentioned in my previous  post).

                Summative assessment is critical in order to assess what content students have retained and their overall gain from instruction and experiences. Collaborative wikis are a great way to assess learning at the end of a unit. E-portfolios, such as the one I created at the end of my college career, are a great way to assess learning at the end of a semester or year.

I have attached some links that I found interesting in relation to this topic.

This link shows a great example of how younger students can use blogging and e-portfolios.

This link offers definitions and helpful tips for formative and summative assessment.

To view an example of an e-portfolio I created at the end of my college career, go to this link and type in this pass code: CB1531D8  Then click “Visitor Pass Entry” and click “Beth Graham Professional Portfolio”. You can view each section under “Table of Contents" to the left of the page.