In twelve years, by 2020, current technologies such as high speed wireless WiMax and 3G data connections will be seen as the dial up of the mobile world. Newer, faster wireless connections that are truly ubiquitous due to the open “white space” spectrum left from former analog TV transmissions will ensure that one will be connected at all times. Coming with these connections will be more powerful mobile devices that will enable communication and collaboration not only via voice, but through text and video. The speed at which data will be communicated to these devices will help to make hard line connections a thing of the past. These devices will range from small powerful notebooks capable of high end video manipulation to the traditional hand held phone containing video-call capabilities with a processor capable of easily dictating voice to text. This combination of connectedness and cheap and powerful devices to utilize these connections will change how schools are organized, how teachers teach and how students learn.
There are a number of changes that will need to occur within schools to enable teachers to be most effective with these new technologies. Smaller classes are needed so teachers can manage the collaborative nature of using Web 2.0 services most effectively (and of course by this time it will be called Web 007 or something like this). There needs to be more training devoted specifically to the implementation of this technology so that teachers feel comfortable and confident and will ensure minimal time will be wasted trying to figure things out. Unfettered access must also be given so that time is not wasted trying to retrieve web documents during class time. Furthermore, curriculum needs to change to reflect the collaborative nature of learning and collaborative nature of the world – high stakes testing takes a lot of time out of the school year for preparation, whereas this time could be spent preparing students to be functional in the Web 2.0 world.
There is no doubt that schools have changed over the last decade to become more technologically savvy and efficient, such as online attendance programs, grade programs, announcement programs and more. As well, students all receive some computer classes to help them become proficient in word processing at the very least. However, many of the changes mentioned in the tech world associated with schools have helped the school become a better run business as such, primarily dealing with administrative concerns. Over the next decade I am sure more teachers will implement Web 2.0 technology within their classrooms, but I am not sure I envision all schools transitioning to full tech integration because of the changes I said are needed for that to happen. Due to budget restraints and the institutional nature of education regarding curriculum and standardized testing, progress will continue to be made at a very slow pace, as many might say it has always done.
Once schools provide the time and budget for training and access, in addition to initiating technology integration school-wide, all teachers need to embrace these changes and ensure they stay in tune with new approaches and technologies. If significant changes take place in curriculum and less pressure is placed on teachers for high-stakes standardized testing, I believe teachers will be excited about creating innovative lessons and become risk-takers in learning with the students. From a high school teacher’s stand point, the main focus is university preparation, so university instruction and assessment will need to change significantly for the effect to trickle down.
As teachers become more comfortable, confident and knowledgeable about the limitless possibilities of the web, students will need to focus on the responsible use of technology more than ever. In addition to safety issues regarding personal information and tracking, plagiarism will continue to get easier, so explicit instructions will be needed for students to understand the temptations yet dangers of the web. Students will still need to have a base set of knowledge, and with such easy access to answers will need to be taught to remove themselves from the “grid” and take more responsibility for their learning. Taking this responsibility seriously will be empowering for students as in 2020 I see students realizing their potential as actual partners in their education. If university begins to change, then high school teachers will more and more become facilitators in learning with students being the guides.
Futurist Alvin Toffler states that, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” I believe all stakeholders in the education system are beginning to understand and embrace this statement and changes are slowly being made in accordance with it. People’s knowledge and use in technology will be imperative for all to be literate by 2020.
Much like photoshop, picnik offers people the ability to quickly edit photos and create art, really. This web application could be of great benefit to students who seek a creative visual outlet in each class, but rarely get it. In English class, one assignment that would allow this type of student to excel is a travel journal over spring break or on a field study trip, for example. Having students choose and edit one photo or so for each day and then using it as a writing prompt might make for a more creative, interesting and detailed journal. I could see students who may not like to write very much, write more with an assignment that asked for photos to be incorporated in it than a writing-only assignment. And it would definitely be far more enjoyable to read through as the teacher, so it could be a win-win assignment.
This week I read the article titled “School of General Studies Offers University’s First Paperless Undergraduate Class” by Abigail Beshkin. It discusses how adjunct professors Marc Meyer and David Grey at Columbia University are teaching Ancient History without using textbooks or paper of any kind. As the article explains, this doesn’t mean it is an online class – the students attend class regularly for face-to-face discussion, but access all readings and post all work through the university’s online system.
As a high school English teacher I can think of nothing better than not having the stacks and stacks of essays all over my desk, in my home and around my classroom. However, I am not ready to go completely paperless for a few reasons, but one in particular. The editing and revision stage of the writing process is a very important one for students to actually become better writers. From trying out collaborative online editing programs such as Google docs, I find peer reviews often consist of highlighting spelling mistakes more than writing comments to provide suggestions for improving ideas and details. If students do make the effort to provide suggestions, the track changes bubbles are over to the side and seem somewhat removed from the sentences that need help. As the teacher going through the drafts, I also find this to be true. I believe that paper copies of the drafts in double-spaced format make it easier to really dig into the paper and provide comments that will help students use the suggestions and become better writers. Perhaps I would feel differently as a university professor, however, because I don’t often remember getting essay drafts edited and reviewed by professors when I was in university.
Peter Awn, dean of the School of General Studies at Columbia University says, “The point isn’t to create a paperless class just for the sake of having a paperless class. The goal of this course is to test the limits, and see how we can bring together both the traditional learning and the online elements available in higher education. This is the wave of the future in the classroom—not substituting one for the other, but bringing together both.”
I appreciate the idea of not substituting one for the other, as many tech teachers have tried to suggest to me. Slowly but surely I, in addition to many high school teachers I know, are finding a balance that works best for our courses. I do post many supplementary readings onto my class webpages, giving students the option to print them out to make comments on it during discussion or take notes on their laptops…if they have one. Because we, the students and I, are all at different stages of competence in the tech world and we all have different ways we like to learn, options are often given to accommodate us in the learning process.
I need to go sort the papers on my desk now, though maybe in a few years those papers won’t always be there.
Kimberly
Will Richardson outlines 10 “Big Shifts” in education in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Of those 10, two have me the most excited about how I teach. I take an inquiry-based approach in my classroom and the idea of Big Shift #1 – Open Content and Big Shift #4 – Teaching is Conversation, Not Lecture supports my philosophy greatly.
With my IB students right now we are studying poetry collections by three poets – Dickinson, Plath and Frost. For each poet, the students are divided into groups and must take one poem by that poet to teach to the class through a powerpoint presentation. I could give the students my interpretations of the poems and provide background reading on the interpretations others have come up with, but because Richardson’s idea of Open Content is true, the students have access to all the same resources I do and may find even better ones to study their poems and become the experts to teach others. And because all students in the class have been researching to find information on their poem, they most probably have come across the same information on the poet her/himself and that poet’s style of writing, so when presentations are made to the class from one group, all other students are encouraged to add in with what they have found that can add to the discussion. In this way, Teaching is Conversation, Not Lecture.
Because I truly believe the art of teaching is knowing how to facilitate and guide more than being a genius in a particular subject area, I openly admit to the students that I don’t and can’t know everything about a topic. In fact, unless we can speak to these poets personally, we really aren’t sure of the exact meanings for each of their poems. What we do as a class is put all the information we can find together and make sense of it in relation to the poems we are looking at – it is a collaborative effort. My job is to guide students in what they should be looking for, how to present it, ask students to consider different perspectives at times and fill in any gaps in content that are essential to overall meaning.
This is an exciting way to teach because I am constantly learning new things from the sources students access and the students feel empowered with the challenge to teach the class and guide the discussions based on the information they have come up with themselves.
Although I am always sad to be away from family and friends as an international school teacher, I realize that I speak to and see some friends and family members far more than I may if I lived only a province away, rather than half a globe away. Many programs make this possible, such as MSN, googletalk and Skype.
All three programs have the intstant messaging capability, known as IM, but Skype offers my husband and I the ability to IM, talk using a microphone calling computer to computer, talk using a microphone calling from our computer to a landline, as well as see people and be seen using a webcam. WOW!
My last blog post discussed the idea of Digital Immigrants and Digital Natives. If I am a Digital Immigrant, my mom definitely falls into that category, too. I usually have to log on to Skype and then call my mom on her landline, only to say, “Mom, get on Skype now. Yes, click start, all programs, find Skype, click on that, your login name is grandma and your password is ******. Ok, sign in and I will call you.”
And just the other night, we went through this process and she got to see my baby girl, who is 9 months old, walk across our livingroom where we are 12 hours ahead in time zones. And for her granddaughter to laugh and squeal when she sees her grandma clapping in pride at the momentous steps she has taken is absolutely amazing. How lucky we are because of how close we can stay to each other.
Not only has Skype made my life more enriching, but it does so for my students, who are considered 3rd culture kids. Most of us in the international school setting all connect with home easily and cost effectively using Skype, which is so important in helping us build/keep our identity.
Kimberly
After reading a wikipage discussing how there is a new learning theory called connectivism, what I loved was the classification of digital immigrants and digital natives. I have never thought of it this way, but Mark Prensky says that those born before 1990 are considered Digital Immigrants, while those born after, are conversent with technology so are considered Digital Natives. Because I happen to be a bit older than 18, I am a digital immigrant, while my students are all digital natives. Prensky acknowldeges that immigrants can definitely learn the language of technology…why look at me, I am blogging…but like most immigrants learning the language of their new country, they always retain the accent and it just doesn’t come quite as naturally as we all wish it would. That is exactly how I feel about the use of technology and I am thankful I am surrounded by those that don’t have an accent (my students) from whom I am happy to learn. All too often I am reminded of being a digital immigrant when they laugh at my accent, even though I think I am hiding it well. They seem to think I hide my age well, anyway!
Kimberly
Oprah says Book Tour is “like your own private bookstore reading” from npr (National Public Radio). Book Tour offers readings from a variety of authors, as well as interviews and discussions on many novels. At a time when I am finding it difficult to convince students reading is actually entertainment, just like playing video games or chatting on msn, these podcasts can entice students into the important world of literature.
Because Book Tour offers a weekly podcast featuring one notable author discussing her/his book, I can bring this into the classroom to share with my senior students. This will also open the door for them to access bestsellers and further information on books they may have already read.
One particular example is the podcast discussing the new novel Goldengrove. (Click to download podcast)
As most students are visual learners due to the advances in technology, Flickr offers lots of potential in the classroom. In my high school English class, specifically, creating a photo journal, picture travel log, or image diary are all possibilities for allowing students to express themselves in creative and unique ways.
When looking through Flickr myself, I couldn’t help but notice all the amazing photos of nature and how these photos could be used in conjunction with a poetry unit when teaching figurative language such as metaphors, similes, imagery, tone, onomatopoeia, symbolism and other literary devices. The picture of mountains can spur students on to discuss what mountains tend to symbolize in life: strength in some cases and difficulties/obstacles in other cases.
A visual representation allows students to connect better to the information being learned and therefore remember it better, which is what all teachers hope for.
Below is an excerpt from my proposal for my Master’s research study:
It is 8:00am on September 5th and I am anxiously awaiting my students’ arrival so we can begin another new school year together. I use the word anxious for a few reasons: firstly, I am hoping the new classes I have are going to work well together and be well behaved; secondly, I hope I can generate enough enthusiasm in our coursework to make the students realize the importance of working hard in English class; thirdly, I hope the majority of students like me; and finally, I hope for all of the above so that we can get through the curriculum as fast as possible with the greatest amount of success because I know there will never be enough time to do all I need to do and all I want to do during the school year.
As I approach my ninth year of teaching I am disheartened to know that time, or the lack there of, is still a problem for me. Through several years of experience and numerous professional development sessions, I know I have become much more efficient in facilitating learning and managing my class time, so I question why I feel this way on each ‘first’ day of school. I realize, though, that other teachers feel this way and I am not alone; Smith (2000) notes that “not enough time” to meet demands continues to be teachers’ universal complaint. Unfortunately, instead of the desired sequential flow, school can more accurately be described as a series of stop-and-go learning opportunities that compete with one another for scarce time. Clough, Smasal and Clough (2000) confirmed that “few things are more bothersome to teachers than when classes are shortened or are eliminated for things that could be accomplished before or after school.”
According to Smith (2000), research strongly suggests time is a key instructional resource and its importance has been neglected. Kubitschek, Hallinan, Arnett and Galipeau (2005) also noticed neglect when commenting on the casual attitude taken to the loss of instructional time. Because of this neglect, I seek to explore the effective use of time within the school day, specifically focusing on the reduction of classroom time and the subsequent effects of this alternatively allocated time. It is my hope that this study will create awareness of the external factors preventing teachers from maximizing classroom time and offer possibilities for providing students an enriching high school experience through protecting classroom time. As Stenvall (2002) confirms, it is accepted that there is the same amount of time to work with, but for the sake of the learning community, she challenges that time must be worked with differently.
So…do you have enough time? If yes, how does your school work with time differently?
References:
Clough, M., Smasal, R., & Clough, D. (2000). Managing each minute. The Science Teacher, 67(1), 51. Retrieved January 31, 2008, from ProQuest Education Journals database.
Kubitschek, W., Hallinan, M., Arnett, S. & Galipeau, K. (2005). High school schedule changes and the effect of lost instructional time on achievement. The High School Journal, 89(1), 63-71. Retrieved January 31, 2008, from ProQuest Education Journals database.
Smith, B. (2000). Quantity matters: Annual instructional time in an urban school system. Educational Administration Quarterly, 36(5), 652-682. Retrieved January 31, 2008, from ProQuest Education Journals database.
Stenvall, M. (2002). A decade of change: Who says it’s the same old school? Catalyst for Change, 32(1), 6-7. Retrieved January 31, 2008 from Wilson Web database.
More than blogging in the classroom, I like the idea of wikis. After creating a wikipage with a small group of educators, who are taking an online tech class with me and happen to live across the world from me, I realized the potential learning resources my students could create. As an English teacher I have my students conduct literature circles when studying novels or short stories. An online version of the literature circle is a wikipage, where each student in a group is responsible for preparing a subtopic of the novel section being studied and discussed. By the end of the novel, there would be a permanent record of many aspects of the entire novel. Through collaboration on the same wikipage, students would also be able to edit eachother’s work for accuracy, so it could be used for a reliable source of information on that novel that other teachers and students could access for more background and analysis of the novel. As the title of my blog suggests, I am always worried about time; for tech initiatives in particular, a lot of time seems to be needed to get things up and running before students can actually start the work part of things, so I often feel like avoiding Web 2.0 projects. However, this one seems doable, so I am excited to try it and I am pretty sure my students will like creating wikipages.
