Ed Tech Class (EDUC 520) INTASC Standards Met

The following is a summary of how I met INTASC Standards 4.13 and 6.35 through my work in the above course:

TaskStream-Final

How to Use tinyURL.com--a Video Presentation Using Screenr

Anyone who has done research and has located relevant articles that are accessible only via the web has struggled with the long, unwieldy URLs that are often associated with these articles.  If these articles are to be shared between teacher and student or among students working together, shorter URLs with more intuitive descriptions would be a time-saving alternative.

A free application called tinyURL.com has proven to be a useful tool to convert the long URLs into shorter, logical URLs.  In this video I will demonstrate how easy it is to use tinyURL.com.

[The video can also be found at:  http://screenr.com/M8k]

Reflection on the Ed Tech Standards

Looking at the big picture, I believe that the aims of the Ed Tech Standards can be summed up as follows:

The overarching goal of the Ed Tech Standards is to ensure that all students are technologically literate.

More specifically, students must have access to technology and develop proficiency in its use in order to

• Improve their academic performance, including critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and decision-making.
• Develop their creativity and foster innovation in the generation of ideas.
• Network, collaborate, and participate with the broader community.
• Access, research, and communicate ideas and information.

And they must learn to do all this in a legal and responsible fashion.

Teachers must

• Promote the technological competence of their students.
• Use technology to facilitate student learning and creativity.
• Design digital learning experiences for students and digital assessments.
• Model digital learning and responsible digital citizenship in their own work.
• Engage in professional growth, including the improvement of their own technological competence.

The following are some strategies that I could implement in my high school classes in order to accomplish the above aims:

I would promote technological competence in my students using strategies such as the following:

• I would make sure that students are well-versed in standard word-processing and spreadsheet applications.
• I would promote their use of free web-based applications such as GoogleDocs.
• I would promote the full use of web resources in their research and projects.
• I would promote networking among students, teachers, and parents to facilitate learning and communication.
• I would teach and model appropriate uses of technology and proper etiquette.

In my teaching, I would

• Make full use of presentation software, incorporating visual materials and bulleted outlines to sum up, for example, developments in a particular historical period or to sum up features of our federal system of government.
• Assign group projects that would require students to collaborate on a document that would ultimately be a group product, but with an equitable division of labor.
• Use technology to offer instant feedback on students’ individual or collaborative projects, helping to guide their efforts toward further improvements.
• Make appropriate use of video clips and other multimedia aids to make learning a more interesting and engaging experience for my students.
• Make full use of technology in student assessments to determine where students are at in terms of mastering the material so that I know who needs extra help and when it is appropriate for the class to move on to other themes.

When it comes to technology in education, I would try to keep in mind the cover of the March 5^th draft of the National Technology Education Plan 2010:  “Transforming American Education:  Learning Powered by Technology.”  Technology can be a powerful tool indeed for both teachers and students!

Analyzing Student Data in a Spreadsheet

I took a somewhat convoluted route to analyzing student data in a spreadsheet.  I copied the raw test data (tests 1-10) for all students and pasted these into an Excel spreadsheet, since I am already an experienced Excel user.  I deleted the test scores for tests 1-5, since we are only interested in looking at scores from the second half of the testing period.  I entered formulas to calcute each student's average score (tests 6-10) at the end of each row containing the student scores.  I entered formulas to calculate the average of all student test scores for each test at the bottom of the column for each test.  I also calculated the overall average score on all of the tests by all of the students.

Since we are interested in looking at only those students whose average on all tests was below the overall average, I sorted the students and their test scores based on their averages on all tests.  I then deleted student records for those students whose average on all tests was above the overall average.  Finally, I sorted the remaining student files alphabetically by last name.

Now that I had the  particular students records with scores on tests 6-10 in the order that I wanted to look at, I copied and pasted this data into a Google Docs spreadsheet.  I opened a second sheet and created a line chart, indentifying the individual students by line color and plotting their test scores on the y-axis and the test numbers on the x-axis.  For each student, his/her line represents the increase or decrease in test performance over the second half of the testing period.

Finally, I posted the student data and line chart in this blog, embedding the html code  in the blog.  For those who cannot view the spreadsheet or line chart, it is available at:
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0Alj58Q_Hg8ItdHVmYk9BWXF4cXlHbm9VNXdXejZ0cGc&hl=en#gid=0

In retrospect, I could have performed the student data and test scores averaging, sorting, and cullling within a Google Docs spreadsheet, instead of doing this in an Excel spreadsheet and then copying it into Googe Docs.  I could have opened a new page at each step in Google Docs, copying info from the previous page and manipulating data via the functions available there.

The final result of my efforts:

If I were a the teacher in the above class, what might these scores and line graphs tell me about these selected students' performance?  As a group, their performance improved consistently during the second half of the period, fairly dramatically for some, not very dramatically for others (Isabella and Scott).  Hepburn stands out as being all over the map, although finishing fairly strong.  Special counseling or tutoring might be in order for weaker or inconsistent performers.

My favorite Web 2.0 tools

Web 2.0 can be defined as the process of accessing selected web-based software tools and services and using these to create, edit, and store web-based documents.  The software applications and web services  include word processing, spreadsheets, powerpoint-like presentations, audio and video conferencing and productions, online calendars and scheduling, and others.  These applications can be invaluable in the creation and editing of group projects, since the common document can be accessed and edited anywhere via computer.  They can also enhance personal productivity because time is not wasted on trying to track changes in a document or project—these are made in real time.

One example of a free Web 2.0 tool is a personal productivity software application called Tiny URL.com.

Functions of tinyURL.com:

In a web-based era when communications often include directing others to particular web sites or links, TinyURL.com can be a useful tool.  Briefly, what this application does is to convert a long URL into a much shorter one.

How can tinyURL.com improve productivity for teachers and students?

• It dramatically cuts down the number of keystrokes needed to access a site and thereby reduces the possibility of keying errors (which would require doing it all over again) by teacher and students
• A teacher could give several tiny URLs to students to guide them in their research or in a group project, or students could share their findings among themselves using tiny URLs as they work on a project
• An example:  the link to the document in the blog post “Google Docs,” below, could have been easily converted to the following link using tinyURL.com:   http://tinyURL.com/googledocstiny123

Another example of a Web 2.0 tool is the screen recorder tool called TokBox.com.

Functions of TokBox.com:

Using TokBox.com, you can use a video camera and microphone to communicate with others on the web, to do video conferencing, to record and post speeches or presentations, or to send streaming video email.  Invitations to video conferences only require you to know the other person’s email address.

How can TokBox.com improve productivity for teachers and students?

• The potential uses for this tool in doing presentations are almost unlimited, and these can be simultaneously viewed and recorded for future playback
• Online discussions or debates would be especially amenable to the TokBox format
• Input from the teacher or from other students would be in real time, and the presentation can be tweaked accordingly
• There would be no time wasted in individually viewing the presentation, emailing comments, revising the script, further revising etc.
• Teachers could question students in real time to assess their understanding of the subject matter in the presentation

Google Docs

A powerful collaborative tool for teachers and students is GOOGLE DOCS.  In brief, Google Docs can be defined as a web-based word processing tool.

Google Docs has tremendous potential for improving productivity and for enhancing teaching and learning:

• A user can create a document that can be instantly shared by others and edited by others 
• To view or edit the document, a participant only needs to have a computer with access to the web and only needs to access a single web site
• Each participant can take part in the process simultaneously
• Productivity is improved because time is not wasted emailing a document back and forth among participants each time someone tweaks the document--updates are in real time
• By allowing instant feedback on shared documents, it promotes collaboration among students working on a group project
• It also provides a great tool for a teachers, who can use students' documents to assess their level of understanding and who can offer instant suggestions for improvement, allowing students to make changes where recommended

In my experience, Google Docs is easly to learn.  Anyone who has used a popular word processor such as Microsoft Word will find Google Docs intuitively familiar.  Google Docs may not have all of the "bells and whistles" that have been incorporated into MS Word, but it is powerful enough for most word processing applications.

Kristeen B. and I created a sample document with Google Docs, tentatively finding our way together during the project.  It includes a summary of Google Docs features, plus an unrelated image that we pulled off the web (for purposes of demonstration).  The sample document can be viewed at:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1lUj510-6VTm5yvt8NvZRFMNxf4NsgLwBwZgQtOZu15c/edit?hl=en

OTEN Inspiration Conference in Forest Grove, Oregon, on September 25,2010

Along with other MAT colleagues, I attended a half-day conference on technology in education held at the Berglund Center at Pacific University.  Tim Lauer was the opening Keynote Speaker.  He presented an interesting historical overview of the use of technology in the classrom.  He also described a class project from his days as a teacher at Buckman Elementary School, where his students constructed a hovercraft and posted their project on the web.

I also attended a session on Using Technology in Social Studies Classrooms, presented by Jeff Barlow from Pacific University.  He described a class project where his students set up a web site for black Korean War veterans.  He shared his outline of how to implement such a project.

Finally, I attended a session on using GoogleApps in the Classroom presented by Willamette's own Steve Rhine.  He demonstrated the usefulness of several Google applications, plus a few non-Google applications, all of which are free and readily avialable.

A good conference--I only wish that I could have attended more sessions!

An audio summary of these sessions is available using the Yodio link embedded above (also available at:
http://yodio.com/yo.aspx?cardId=hXFn9QlMx56GvHUhbToA5J).

Blogging Applications for Teachers and Students

Blogging can be a useful tool for both teachers and students.  Here are some possible applications:

Teachers

• Classroom management applications such as calendar, class roster, syllabus, assignments, and attendance
• Collaborative applications with students such as maintaining folders for students' work, with instant teacher critiques and suggestions for revision
• Enable additional opportunities for mentoring individual students
• Communicating with other teachers, administrators, and parents regarding student performance and evaluation
• Use of blogs as a centralized library to pull together instructional materials relevant to the course
• Can give parents access to students work (and assignments) and encourage their involvement

Students

• Learn to collaborate with other students on projects
• Get instant feedback on submitted projects from their teachers
• Get feedback on their work from other students
• Get more involved in the educational process and more motivated to succeed
• Improve their reading and writing skills
• Can use blogs as a forum to hone their communication skills and develop their critical reasoning abilities

Example of a possible assignment:  Students would be separated into small groups.  One group would post information about the US system of government, its structure and functions, in outline form.  Each of the remaining groups would choose one of a few selected countries with a different model (the British parliamentary system, the French system, the Chinese system, for example) and post information about that country's system of government.  The blog discussion topic would be to compare and contrast the different systems via postings.

Personal Bio

I decided late in life to pursue a career in teaching.  I am jazzed about my new calling--I only hope that my old brain cells are up to the task!  I have worked in retailing of one sort or another since I finished college, currently working in a university bookstore.  I was already on the slow glide path to retirement when I got "the call."

I am interested in teaching social studies or perhaps language arts at the middle school or high school level.  A role model for me a long time ago was my high school social studies teacher.  I want to help students learn more about our society and our government--how we got here, how our system works, how it compares to other models.  I also want to help students become critical thinkers and coach them to develop their analyical skills and their writing skills.

I am new to the study of education, but I am looking forward to learning more about this exciting and quickly-evolving world.  I am also looking forward to graduation from the MAT program and, most important, my first teaching assignment.