Teaching with Tech Project - Part 2

I have done some research on iBooks, making iBooks and what the possibilities are.  This is a really cool program and I can see some great possibilities in the future in a classroom, especially if it is a classroom where there are several iPads available for students to use.  The ability to make a textbook for students to use to supplement units that don't have text, or if I want to do something outside of the giving curriculum.  The interactive features with videos, 3D animation, built in assessments, picture viewer, etc make the creative threshold of the iBook unlimited.  I am really excited to get in and start playing around with a layout and creating.
I think for my teaching portion, I will make a Jing - the step by step video layout is going to be a necessity to truly understand how to do things, but I will need to play around a lot with the program first to truly understand.   I plan on also making an interactive book targeted at a young age group just to have a good portfolio item and truly show the possibilities of a technology rich classroom.
I have a feeling that there will be a steep learning curve with making an attractive and versatile book.  When looking at the possibility of using in the classroom, it will take a lot of additional time to put together a book for students to use, but once it is done it will be something that can be used from year to year and easily updated as curriculum or items change.  I think that if I can create my own type of template that I could use it would speed things up as well.  With a younger target audience there will be alot more space to fill with pictures, graphics, and videos then with text which is harder to create then just drag and dropping large text files.
I am really excited to get in and start working on this assignment and I think it will be a good one for several people in class to look at for potential use in their classrooms!

Technology Teaching Project

I have not really started into the teaching project, but I have officially decided to do the iBook instead of the SmartBoard since there were already several people doing SmartBoard.  I will be doing my practice teaching on my father who is a professor at Rose State College and is also working on an Apple feasibility study for onboard entertainment for private airliners.  He is looking at the possibility of creating an iBook as the instruction manual for the onboard iPads being used.  I will add more when I have gotten into the assignment deeper.

Chapter 5 Reflection

In Chapter 5 of Teaching with Technology, we start to see how classrooms and students change when they use technology more and more.  Technology really encourages a more constructivist or collaborative classroom.  Technology cannot be used effectively in a traditional lecture style of class.  As the teachers started to settle in with the technology and let the students do more and more with it in their assignments, the more and more they saw that their classrooms were changing, and changing for the better.  Students were becoming more active in the lessons and the learning/ teaching of the lessons. Even those students that were not known as the exceptional students were finding a specialty in relation to technology or what could be done with technology.  Teachers started using students to teach the classes where students researched topics then presented them to the class, instead of the teacher just lecturing on the topics.  In this, however, teachers were beginning to see how their traditional ways of assessing students on knowledge was no longer going to work.  Because the students were learning differently and applying what and how they learned in different manners, standard testing would no longer work.  Teachers became worried about how to assess the students knowledge, especially those teachers that were not working on the ACOT program and really did not know how to use computers.  I found it a little humorous that no one in the book outside of the ACOT program really knew how to use technology.  When you look at today's world where everyone knows how to use a word processor, boot up a computer, and type emails it is hard to remember a world without the world wide web and with individuals who did not own a home computer or have one in their classroom or at their disposal.

I love that with the use of technology comes an increase to move classrooms in a collaborative direction.  I think that students who collaborate and constructively put together their learning environment find a better understanding of the knowledge they are gaining.  The application and deeper thinking associated is critical for successful learning.  I also think it is interesting how classrooms were changing not only for the use of technology but in general.  Even assignments where technology was not centrally focused (like a chemistry lab), the teachers were still taking advantage of the different types of teaching and learning that technology had presented.  I have been in classes that have used several of these types of teaching - most common the learn a subject and teach it to the class, become the second expert (next to the teacher) and instruct the class.  While it is definitely more work on the students part (and less on the teacher), it helps students grasp what is being learned in a fully manner as researching helps one better understand.  I definitely got more out of units I put together and taught then one that a teacher handed out an article and lectured on.  This is incredibly encouraging seeing that colleges seem to be the last to convert to this style of teaching since traditional a college class is known as a stuff lecture style approach.  I am excited to see how the increase of technology due to Common Core and Common Core testing continues to change the landscape of our classrooms.

Teacher Technology Change

When integrating technology into the pedagogical practices of a teacher, there are several different ideas that must be considered in the development of the teacher's skills with technology.  These ideas revolve around knowledge, confidence,beliefs, and culture relating to technology and the environment that the teacher is in.  Most of the practices of different professionals today have shifted to reflect the increase in technology and software available.  For example, a mechanic now hooks a car up to a software program that gives a read out of what the problem with the car system is.  If I take my car to the shop, I expect that the mechanic will have the equipment and no-how to use it.  Why does this not extend into the classroom of the 21st century.  Shouldn't our schools and teachers be equipped with this new technology and no how, just like our mechanics and doctors and other professionals?  These other professionals must learn how to use the new technology.  Both those that are in school learning the trade and those in the field currently practicing.  How these two different groups learn how to use and integrate the technology is approached in similar and different ways.  For pre-service teachers, learning the technology is fairly routine.  Because schools try to stay current with the trends, they are equipped with the materials needed to teach students.  And younger individuals (those in college) are also more versed in technology to begin with.  What these students lack is the knowledge of how to apply this technology to teaching because they do not have a basis in the classroom.  They must increase their confidence in using technology by observing the use of technology in classrooms or teaching small groups in classrooms.  The beliefs that they have that must be changed or only those that students come in with regarding their own K-12 experience usually.  Their cultural change refers to how the technology will be taught in the program, which is hopefully by integrating it into the entire work being done and not in a single class.  The current in-service teachers must also learn how to use and implement technology but they face other difficulties that pre-service teachers do not.  In-service teachers have the existing PCK that they can utilize to help apply the information they are learning to the classroom.  They however lack the self-efficacy in themselves and their use of technology to actually teach in the classroom.  It was found that the longer that the teachers were given to learn about the technology and implement it slowly, the more successful the process was.  In-service teachers must also change their way of thinking that they have set in their minds from years of teaching, which for teachers who have been serving longer may prove to be tougher.  It is also important that in-service teachers use the culture of the schools that they teach in to their learning process.  In both the in-service and pre-service cases, the important part is that there is professional development and training that is done to help teachers change their beliefs to best utilize the technology.

One thing I had never thought about in regards to pre-service teachers and learning technology was how not having the pedagogical knowledge of teaching in the classroom would effect how effectively they can apply what they are learning to teaching.  I also have just had in my mind that I will have a better understand and will be able to use technology better when I get out of school because I don't have those PCK, but this article instead looks at this lack of PCK and a hinderance in a way.  And that makes sense.  Without the background of how students learn, what is taught, a basis of activities to use in teaching, etc it is harder to apply the technology from the get go.  I can be quick and effective with the technology but if I am stumbling trying to reach the students and come up with activities, then I am not really any better off.  Definitely food for thought, and something else to think of when applying the things I learn to my future classrooms - how can I apply the technology I am using to classroom activities and other learning issues that I will face.

Chapter 4 Reflection

Chapter 4 takes the 5 stages of technology integration in the classroom and discusses problems, issues, success, and other thoughts that teachers had while working with technology in their classrooms.  The issues that they encountered in the Entry stage included un-anticipated problems in the classroom including student misbehavior and cheating, the change to the physical classroom environment in reduced space and extra heat and noise, software issues and problems with the computers including computers or equipment going down and leaving the classroom without technology during class time, and just the way that the teacher handles changes in the classroom.  During Adoption, teachers began to  anticipate the problems that may occur with the computers, equipment, or students and they started to address and be pro-active against them.  They devised plans to catch students at cheating using technology and came up with ways to avoid computers from crashing or being overloaded.  The adaptation phase teachers finally stopped trying to just fix the problems presented and started working on ways that they could integrate the technology into the classroom or into the behavior management of students.  Teachers started collaborating with each other to work on effective strategies for using computers and software in lessons and in classroom management.  The end of the chapter looks at classroom management again and how technology has changed the face of how the classroom runs.

I think that the teachers discovered something over the time that they used the technology, that all change takes time and that all change will create problems and solve problems.  The key is to weather the storm and learn how to change as it presents itself.  In the beginning it will be really tough to change, but as time goes by it will become easier and more natural.  After awhile it will be so much a part of your daily routine that not having it will actually be a difficult thing to handle, like the teacher who's tape recorder broke and she couldn't record her thoughts for the day.  Some thoughts that I had while reading included: in response to teachers talking about the computers being down or breaking after a few years, computers and today's technology does not have the longevity that paper and pencil does.  They will break, often, and have to be replaced.  It is something that must be remembered and factored into the schools future planning.  In response to students not having a problem focusing for an entire class period when in front of the computer: todays students live with technology playing video games and watching tv during all of their free time.  Of course they will be more engaged when technology is involved in the classroom.

Chapter 3 - Teach with Technology

Chapter 3 in the Teaching with Technology book looked at the evolution of technology in a group of classrooms in a study that involved adding technology into a certain number of classrooms.  Although this chapter does not specifically call out the technology that was added included computers, printers, scanners, and other early 1990s classroom technology.  There were five stages that the teachers and classes had to work through with the integration of this technology. (*one point I had to remember is that this technology was added in the 90s when technology was not a common thing in classrooms)  The five stages were Entry, Adoption, Adaptation, Appropriation, and Invention.  Entry was the initial introduction of the technology into the classroom including the unpacking and plugging in of the computers.  This also included some brief software installation.  Adoption is the initial use of the technology in the classroom.  This stage is incredibly tough because most teachers tried to just use the technology to continue with their everyday routine instead of changing their lessons to work with the technology.  Adaptation is when the teachers and classes start to integrate into the lesson plans in a more natural way.  While the traditional classroom activity were still prominent in the classrooms, the technology started to work it's way into the lesson plans and activities.  Appropriation is not really a phase that must be passed but more of a state of mind that the teachers and students came to where the technology started to become an effortless part of everyday learning.  Finally Invention is when the technology is used to create something completely different within a normal lesson plan.  This is when the teachers and students start using the technology to create assignments and to lead them in new paths.  The book suggested that these steps should be taken incrementally if technology is suddenly added to a classroom.

I had several notes that I made along the way while reading this chapter.  A lot of them were looking at my view of technology and how I started my elementary school in an environment where computers did not exist and we slowly started integrating computers into the learning atmosphere.  I looked at some of the problems that teachers faced in trying to do this and wondered what my teachers faced in this very unstable time.  I also looked at how I viewed technology and the comments made about integrating it into a world where technology didn't exist.  One thing that I noted immediately is that change of any kind takes time, it is not something that can happen overnight.  Also new things are hard to accept, especially when it is something as new as technology was.  Another thought I had was that on page 34, there was a note about how teachers enter the profession with deeply held notions about how to conduct school.  On this I wondered why schools have been so different then other professions over time? I would never go to a doctor's office that still looked like an office from 1950, so why should our schools look the same?  While older individuals might hold tight to those older ideas of school, why are the younger generations holding tight?  In the Adaption portion - the teachers were amazed by what the computers could do and the students attention was held by the computers - in those days, computers were not household items, no one had email and Facebook accounts and smart phones. These computers were probably the only ones these students ever encountered.  Of course they were fascinated by them.  Today, 3 year olds have iPads and 3rd graders have cell phones - are computers still holding the same fascination today as then?  Another question I always have is that if people could see how successful these ACOT programs were immediately, then why didn't more people buy into it earlier?  Even today the idea of technology is not fully accepted in education, even with all it's success. This study allowed teachers time to get use to the technology and integrate it into their classroom, this is not a luxury that many teachers are given these days.  Today they are given the new technology on a Friday and expected to fully integrate it on Monday morning.  They don't have time to break in the technology slowly.

These are just some thoughts I had on this chapter as I read.

Professional Development Reflection

Professional Development is largely personal, what are some things you can do for FREE to improve your technology skills?

I will approach this reflection in two different ways: one way in looking how I currently approach improving my technology skills in my job since I am not currently a teacher, then I will discuss ways that I could possibly improve my skills if I was in a teaching position.

My current job working in an architecture firm as an interior designer requires me to use technology everyday, for almost every thing that I do.  Technology is involved in how we create our drawings, how we answer questions from contractors, how we manage the construction of buildings, and in our every day operations.  When I first started working in 2004, very little in our firm was done digitally outside of the actual creation of the drawings we do and answering emails.  We would hand write our phone logs, our construction questions, and the paper work we process during construction.  Not only was this very tedious, it was time consuming and created a lot of paper work to file that took a lot of space in storage.  Over the years, a couple of us at the firm took on learning new ways to organize the office using technology to bring us out of the dark ages and make our company more efficient and streamline.  We did research on how other firms use technology, experimented with different ideas we had using programs, and asked other people what they did.  We would also take part in luncheons that discussed changes that could be made to help efficiency in firms.  It has taken 8 years, but we have slowly turned our entire firm to an almost completely digital company including the addition of using iPads to remove the need to carry drawings and papers out to job sites when we do job visits. This has increased our turn over speed in office, and has kept us more organized and saved space.  It took a lot of extra time on our part outside of normal office hours to figure out what we needed to do and we meet a lot of resistance from other employees along the way but in the end it has moved our firm from one that was not utilizing the technology available today to one that has fully committed to technology.

When it comes to teaching and improving skills on technology, the biggest factor is time and when to learn how to utilize the technology, make it work correctly, and fit it into current lesson plans.  I think one of the first things to do, that is free, is to take advantage of the local library branch and look into resources and teach how to utilize different types of technology.  There are "____ for Dummies" books for almost everything these days, and there are several guides and help manuals to help easily talk through simply learning technology types.  After taking the time to read through the how-tos and the quick tips and ideas, I think next we have to remember that as teachers we don't have to be perfect and it is alright to learn with the students and make mistakes.  So pick a lesson two a week where testing out the technology with the students is a secondary goal of the lesson.  Talking to the students before hand that you are trying things out and that this will be experimental will probably make them excited about the lesson and could possibly lead you to discovery as the students may figure it out quickly and be able to help you.  The thing to remember is that students today have been using technology since they were about 1 year old so they are incredibly comfortable with trial and error and quickly finding out the answer were we feel like we need to know before we confront.  Finally if the above to ways have not worked, or you feel that you need more help before involving the students, look for peer support.  Ask other teachers in the school if they have conquered the certain technology yet and what they did to learn it.  Maybe see if you can trade of lessons on different things and help each other out.  You can also look on teacher forums and do internet searches to see if other teachers have posted how-tos on the technology you are trying to use.  While there are plenty of conferences you can pay to learn things at, sometimes self discovery is just as useful and sometimes more beneficial in the end.