EDIM 502 Week 5_Students Meeting the NETS-S

The era of strictly pencil and paper classrooms has changed. The Internet, handheld devices, and free educational applications have changed the way of teaching. Although 21st Century Learning has been and continues to be a major struggle for many teachers, it has become extremely efficient and beneficial towards not only gaining the interest of students, but also furthering the student's understanding. Helping with this transition, the International Society for Technology in Education created standards for teachers and students to follow call the National Educational Technology Standards for Students (NETS-S). These standards consist of the following 6 categories:

1. Creativity and Innovation
2. Communication and Collaboration
3. Research and Information Fluency
4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
5. Digital Citizenship
6. Technology Operations and Concepts

These standards can easily be met through a mixture of 21st century learning and inquiry based learning. For instance, students may be probed with solving a task or presenting a product of his or her work. Through the Internet and Web 2.0 applications, soon to be 3.0, students can learn technology operations and concepts to more efficiently research solutions or information needed. The students can also collaborate with others via Web 2.0 tools, such as through Google Docs or a Linoit board. From a teacher's standpoint, this may seem frightening that students can easily share work. The reassuring aspect of Google and many other Web 2.0 collaborative applications, are their revision history. Making the students aware of this tool within the application, creates a sense of accountability and digital citizenship. 

Students can also become more critical thinkers and problem solvers through these Web 2.0 applications. For example, a student may be asked to solve a task such as designing a wall speaker mount that allows the speaker to rotate or re-position itself in three different ways. Through online research consisting of videos, animations, online discussion board, etc., the students can formulate an idea of how he or she would solve the problem. The student could then take that idea a step further and use a Web 2.0 application like Google Sketchup to digitally design the product. The student's entire process of researching, designing, and then displaying his or her product via a Web 2.0 application like Prezi, Voice Thread, Podcast, etc., would bring the student's creativity and innovation full circle.

References:

National Educational Technology Standards for Students. (n.d.). NETS For Students 2007. Retrieved November 19, 2012, from www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007

EDIM 502 Week 1_Project Based Learning

Over the past several years, a large focus in education has been on the engagement of students. In that same time, educational technology that has become more abundant, relevant, and interactive. Combining the plethora of technological resources and new practices, education has moved into 21st century teaching. According to Edutopia, 21st century teaching allows students to grow in the following areas,

• "personal and social responsibility
• planning, critical thinking, reasoning, and creativity
• strong communication skills, both for interpersonal and presentation needs
• cross-cultural understanding
• visualizing and decision making
• knowing how and when to use technology and choosing the most appropriate tool for the task"

Students are acquiring and heightening their skills and the understanding of content to a level of being able to apply it in unique ways. The practice of this application process is called project-based learning. In conversation about project-based learning, Edutopia provided several instances of school classroom projects learning environments. Each classroom has similarities in the teaching style, working style of students, the subject in which the projects were based on, and the overall learning outcome. Edutopia's project-based learning examples can be seen at the following websites,

1. http://www.edutopia.org/march-monarchs
2. http://www.edutopia.org/more-fun-barrel-worms
3. http://www.edutopia.org/geometry-real-world-students-architects

In each of these examples, the viewer will see that the teachers did not necessary lecture and teach all of this content. Instead, the teachers took the role of a facilitator of knowledge, resource, and most importantly a guide to the outcome. This allowed the classroom to become student centered and not teacher centered. The expectation of the students is to actively engaged in progressive towards the investigation, recording, creating, and presenting of their findings. It is up to the students to dive deeper into the content and learning from one another. The content the students were working with was authentic, carried real world meaning, and relevant to each of the student' lives. The relevance got the students interested in learning and collaborating with on another.

The entire learning process that was displayed between the different situations resulted in a higher order of thinking with the content than the students would have normally got with typical education. The passive role of the teacher and mixed with the students active role to work hands-on allowed the students to not only apply the content in unique ways, but also solve problems that occurred within the activity.

References:

Armstrong, S. (2002). Geometry Students Angle into Architecture Through Project Learning.Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/geometry-real-world-students-architects

Curtis, D. (2001). More Fun Than a Barrel of … Worms?! Edutopia. Retrieved fromhttp://www.edutopia.org/more-fun-barrel-worms

Curtis, D. (2002). March of the Monarchs: Students Follow the Butterflies’ Migration. Edutopia.Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/march-monarchs

Edutopia (2007). Why Is Project-Based Learning Important? Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-guide-importance

EDIM 508 Week 7_Google Earth Virtual Field Trip

-->

Virtual field trip? What is that? A virtual field trip can be done in many ways, but what I have created it in is Google Earth. The field trip starts out at Wilson High School. At this point the students are given specific instructions of the field trip will contain and what they should do during it. The trip then takes the students around the world, visiting the New 7 Wonders of the World. Between each stop the students are to use the measuring feature in Google Earth to measure the distance between the monuments. While at each monument, the students will be presented with an interactive Glog. Each Glog contains cultural music, a panorama, brief history, a virtual 3D tour, and information about the monuments engineering. Finally, the students are taken back to the high school where they are presented with a writing prompt. The prompt asks the students to reflect upon the following:

• The distance between the before and after monument.
• What was an interesting fact you learned about the World Wonder?
• What did you learn about the location of the World Wonder's culture?
• What did you find interesting about the World Wonder's engineering?
• What was the culture surrounding the monument when it was created?
• How has the culture of the land changed over time (if any).
• How has that impacted the technology and engineering?

I feel that this virtual field trip is a unique way of educated the students on some astonishing engineering feats of the world while educating them on the history and culture of the land. Through this activity the students will continue to develop their ethical and respectful minds. According to Gardner, “The respectful mind notes and welcomes differences between human individuals” (2007). Whereas the ethical mind “ . . . conceptualizes how workers can serve purposes beyond self-interest and how citizens can work unselfishly to improve the lot of all” (Gardner, 2007). These monuments do just that. They are still inspirational today!


Gardner, H.  (2007).  Five minds for the future.  Boston:  Harvard Business School Press
 

Download The Virtual Field Trip!

EDIM 508 Week 7_Continuing The Development of My Five Minds

 Just in case your browser does not support the video or the Adobe Flash plugin crashes:

• Downloadable Video
• Video Blog Reading

EDIM 508 Week 6_Respectful and Ethical Minds

-->

Walk down the street of any city in America, you will see that the different cultures of the world are not as segregated as they used to be. “The [(2007)] Census also reported that 38.1 million foreign-born residents comprised 12.6 % of the population. Then, in 2008, it predicted that by 2042, more than half of the population would be minorities with much of the increase due to immigration.” (Krase, 2009). The continuous rise in immigration means a mixing of cultures. Although the mixture of cultures has a large magnitude of positives, it also brings with it a great deal of difference in beliefs, life styles, and ethics.

As educators and adults, it is our job to foster respectfulness and prepare students for this fact of life. Julene Reed stated in her article entitled, Global Collaboration and Learning, How to create a world of success without leaving your classroom, “Educators need to find ways to connect students from different parts of the world so that they can learn together, share knowledge and develop cultural understanding and relationships. Through these types of learning experiences, students will increase their global awareness and understanding of other cultures in different parts of the world” (2007). Reed’s article provides several different digital media means that can be implemented into any classroom, such as email, digital photography / video storytelling, blogging, websites, video conferencing, etc.

A project that I planned to on doing but ran out of time at the end of this past year involved the majority of these means of digital media. The project was going to be a virtual design challenge within my Introduction to Engineering and Design class. The student(s) would have been paired up with another student(s) to design a prototype product that would solve a challenge while staying within all of the constraints and criteria given. The project would involve the students to videoconference, communicate via email and screencasts, and finally present the solution through the means of a live videoconference presentation. The presentation would have been created through multi-editing software, like Prezi that integrated media such as 3D animations, screen captures, videos, and digital images.

This project sounds all well and good, but without the ethical and mutual respect between the students, the project would not be as successful as it could be. Doing project as such is a great learning experience for an individual of any age, especially 18 years of age and younger. Teaching these young individuals an ethical code of conduct and behavior is a life long lesson. The ethical mind “requires more abstract and reflective thinking about one's behavior. No matter what type of work a person undertakes, [(he or)] she can stand back and ask what [(he or)] she needs to do for [(his or)] her work to be excellent in quality and ethical in conduct, and then follow through with those responsibilities. Without this mindset, a person can be easily swayed into doing compromised work that cuts corners, just to be able to get ahead (Maria Fusaro, 2009).

Fusaro, Maria. "Five Minds for the Future." Usable Knowledge. Harvard Graduate School of Education, n.d. Web. 14 June 2012. <www.uknow.gse.harvard.edu/teaching/TC106-607.html>.

Krase, Jerry. " “Diversity in America: Past, Present, and Future?” by Jerry Krase | BrooklynSoc.Org ." BROOKLYNSOC.ORG. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 June 2012. <http://www.brooklynsoc.org/blog/node/70>.

EDIM 508 Week 5_Glog

-->

Look around. What do you see? Everywhere you look you see some sort of creative way of expression, whether it is through a movement, a noise, physical feature, or a graphical representation. As an educator, we need constantly find innovative ways of inspiring creativity. According to Howard Gardner, “creativity can be maintained by exhibiting different, equally viable solutions to a single posed problem” (Five Minds for the Future, 2007). A quick and easy way of taking any subject from a bunch of sources and compiling it into one graphical representation is by creating a Glog at edu.glogster.com. A Glog is a digitally interactive poster creating software. It allows you to embed URL links, pictures, sounds, and videos.

I plan to implement the use of my Glog into my class as a teaching tool on Geometric Shapes and Solids. The instructional purpose is to provide the students with an aesthetically appealing poster that allows them to navigate through lecture material, activities, and supportive materials, such as pictures and videos. Within my Glog, I have two embedded Prezi presentations. One Prezi is on Geometric Shapes and Area, and the other Prezi is on the Properties of Geometric Solids. I have multiple still images that act as supportive material. One of these images is a scanned and digitally manipulated image of the exact formula sheet the students get in class. I also have two supportive activities that were created through Discovery Education.  To go along with those activities, I have an embedded Khan Academy video and URL linked quiz. I also have two small animation videos that help work the student through two of the problems within the activities. Finally, there is an embedded work cited link to a Google Doc of my citations.

Besides the teaching tool aspect, I also plan to use the software as a stimulus for the creative minds of my students. By allowing the students to create his or her own Glog, they will be able to display his or her work and / or present a topic. The following High School Pennsylvania standards are some of the basic standards the students will be completing while doing a Glog:

·       1.6.11-D  Contribute to discussions.

·       1.6.11-F  Use media for learning purposes.

·       1.6.11-E  Participate in small and large group discussions and presentations.

·       3.6.10-B  Apply knowledge of information technologies of encoding, transmitting, receiving, storing, retrieving and decoding.

·       3.7.10-C  Apply basic computer operations and concepts.

·       3.7.10-E  Apply basic computer communications systems.

Here is a link to my Glog: http://jnjarrett.edu.glogster.com/geometric-shapes-and-solids/

Gardner, H.  (2007).  Five minds for the future.  Boston:  Harvard Business School Press

EDIM 508 Week 5_Content Creation

-->

As the year comes to an end, I have personally asked several of my students what they liked, didn’t like, could have been better, and wish they would have done more of within my classes. As a Technology and Engineering department, we have also asked the students to fill out a Google Doc form that asked very similar questions along with some other department questions. It was very interesting to hear what the students had to say. Some of them were blatantly honest and some were scared to critique the class.

My two-second level classes that consist of upper classman were given a survey at the beginning of the year asking what they would like to focus the course content on. Comparing that to what the discussions and end of the year evaluation form they filled out, I was able to reflect myself on topics I need to change for next year. The students informed me that they liked the fact that I gave them a voice within the course’s content. I did find out though that the majority of the students were upset for the first two marking periods of the year with the amount of work they were being held accountable for. They expressed that they enjoyed the first level course and its laid back mentality, so they signed up for a second year of it. Not teaching the first level course of either of the subjects, I have a hard time transitioning the students into a fast paced, large workload, proactive class environment. They did however mention that by the third marking period, they really started to enjoy the course and see a major change in their ability. They loved the use of the technology, the project they created, and most importantly the creative freedom. They loved the fact that they got to take home and use the majority of the projects once they learned the proper background knowledge.

My introductory engineering and design course had a mixture of opinions. The majority of this course is 9^th graders. I have found that they are still in that if I don’t 100% like my teacher, than I hate the entire class and all the things we do in it stage. It seems hard to believe students would perceive a class like this, but I have been told directly from a non-opinionated student that he still feels this way at times. A big problem I have in this course is that not everyone is ready or understands the transition from a Middle School Technology Education class (30 days of hands on and fun projects) to a High School Honors Introduction To Engineering and Design course (a lot of lecture and low end manufacturing). You can only imagine the evaluation remarks I got. The most useful comments I got were that they enjoyed the technology used and the ability to research, hand sketch, 3D computer design, and then manufacture their own idea to solve the task at hand. To me this is important that the majority of the students I know are moving on because it is real like application and problem solving. Like Gardner says, “Creativity allows for innovation or meaningful change in how problems are approached in the field” (2007).

Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

EDIM 508 Week 4_Creativity In The Classroom

-->

I have watched several of Sir Ken Robinson’s speeches on education, but one of my favorites is his speech entitled “Do School’s Kill Creativity.” Through the use of humor, personal experiences, and reasoning he is able to make a very compelling argument towards the lack of creativity in education. I think that one of the most bold statements he makes is that “ . . . being wrong isn’t the same thing of being creative. If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with something original” (Sir Ken Robinson, 2007). He goes on to say that kids will take a chance if they do not know the answer. They are not frightened of being wrong. By the time they are adults they transition into being frightened of being wrong because of educating them out of their creative capacities. Our educational systems have trained them to believing that mistakes are the worst things you can make (Sir Ken Robinson, 2007).

I do believe creativity is still present in education, but only when it does not get in the way of completing the task at hand. Throughout our educational system we grade students on his or her ability to get the correct answer or solve the problem. We barely ever grade them on creativity and the process. Why don’t we ever listened to what we as teachers all preach, and actually evaluate the students by means of creativity and his or her process of trying to solve the problem. Even if they do not get the correct answer, it still is a valuable lesson. I personally feel that one of the greatest life long skills and skills you can have while in school is being an effective problem solver. How can we instill this within our students if we are so focused on a testing material that does not involve creativity? If you think about it, when is creativity applied or evaluated during standardized testing? I may be wrong, but I don't think it is.

Yes, I understand the importance of getting the right answer and why the process is only part of the overall activity. I would have to argue though that at the lower levels of education, the process should be more important. In higher-level education you are preparing for real life application where getting the correct answer is critical. In lower-level education you are more focused on understand why and how. This is a learning process that needs creativity for valuable learning. In my classes, I am fortunate enough to design a curriculum that is project oriented. This allows for the use of digital media and creativity on a daily basis. The students still need to understand the background knowledge, but they are evaluated more on the process than the end result.

Through digital media in my classroom, students are able to research topic more effectively than using a book, design his or her idea in a ray of different means, and communicate his or her solution to the problem / task at hand in an engaging and visually appealing way. For example, I gave my Graphic Design class students the problem of designing, creating, and marketing a custom key chain for a company. The students were able to research the company and the size and material of key chains. They then were able to use a digital tablet to hand sketch their ideas into the computer where they later refined them through computer applications. Next, they were able to output them in the form of either 3D printing them in ABS plastic or laser engraving them out of any accessible material, such as plexy glass. They then were able to do the same process when creating a package design. Finally, they were able to communicate the result through a digital visual presentation.

Incorporating more digital media applications like this into our every day class activities will help instill creativity into education. In a speech that Gardner did at the Ecolint Meeting in Geneva, he quoted two famous minds, Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and philosopher Ralph Emerson. “Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. said, ‘Intelligence plus character—that’s the goal of true education’. And philosopher Ralph Emerson said, ‘Character is more important than intellect’ (Gardner, 2008).

Gardner, H. (Director) (2008, January 13). Five Minds for the Future. Annual Educational Conference. Lecture conducted from International School of Geneva, Geneva.

Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity? - YouTube . (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved May 31, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

EDIM 508 Week 3_Media-Infused Presentation Reflection

When creating a video or short film, it is always important to plan beforehand. Teaching / reviewing content that goes into this planning helps the students be able to think through and solve problems before they occur. It also helps foster the process of organization. Organizing your thoughts and order of shooting is an important skill to have. It allows the students to see the broader picture of the project. By doing this, they are able to synthesize the different scenes, camera angles, and timing of the video.

Through the use of storyboarding and flowcharts, students are able to get all of his or her ideas on paper. Teaching this planning process could be either boring and dry or exciting and thought provoking. Coming up with an interesting way of presenting the planning process is only half of the battle. The other half is having an interesting and engaging way of carrying it out.

I believe that media-infused presentations like Prezi can help foster the development of both the disciplined and synthesizing minds of students and teachers. I feel that they can because it allows for greater concentration and critical thinking. Unlike the typical PowerPoint, this type of presentations has a more artistic appeal to it. A presentation of this nature not only incorporates videos and animation, it also provides a digital artboard for creative possibilities.

Having a blank canvas allows the incorporation of different digital programs and applications. Within my Prezi, I incorporated several videos, sounds, and Photoshop creations. I used Microsoft Word to create documents that look exactly like the document the students would be presented in class and changed them into a PDF. From there I created an office like display with a bulletin board and picture frames within Photoshop. Designing all the different aspects of the bulletin board to look believable involves a keen eye and the knowledge to be able to pull together multiple programs’ output files.possibilities.

 Designing an environment like this as a presentation is exciting and creative. It requires a great deal of engagement and higher learning opportunities. It leaves the mind wondering where the camera or view screen is going to move to next. At the same time, it allows the viewer to easy combine all the pieces of information together much easier than a simple slide show or handout.


My Media-Infused Prezi on Video Storyboarding: http://prezi.com/zfvtilksw0m3/video-storyboarding/

Video Storyboarding on Prezi

EDIM 508 Week 2_The Synthesizing Mind

-->

Recently I got the chance to travel to Michigan as an advisor to students who qualified for the National F1 In Schools Competition. While at the competition, I got to speak with several representatives from a company called Autodesk. Autodesk is one of the leading software companies in the engineering would. We use several Autodesk programs within our engineering courses. One of coolest things I got to see from these conversations, were some new programs and apps I knew nothing about.

The main app that I was impressed with was a free app by Autodesk called ForceEffect. According to Dexigner, Autodesk ForceEffect “allows engineers to quickly and easily simulate design options during the conceptual phase. ForceEffect provides an intuitive environment for drawing, constraining and simulating concepts using free body diagrams by simply tapping objects to select, move, rotate and scale. Real time solving capabilities provide immediate feedback on the performance of a design, enabling users to bring engineering to the point of the problem-whether they're in the field, at the office or in the class room” (2012). This app has a great deal of real life problem solving and reinforcing the topics covered in our engineering classes. Although the app may not give the exactly accurate readings when drawing over pictures, it does however do a very good job.

Having an engaging digital resource like this too follow up a discussion on the statics, structural tegrity, and mechanical advantage will easily allow my students will be able to better understand and synthesize the information presented. Student will be able to use learn the content, create an educated hypothesis of on the structure’s statics, and then physically test it through real life application. Through this app the students are also able to modify and redesign the shape of a structure to digitally test. They then can go through the same process of physically testing. I cannot wait to use this app in my classes.

Autodesk ForceEffect App for iPad - Dexigner. (n.d.). Dexigner. Retrieved May 23, 2012, from http://www.dexigner.com/news/24198

Autodesk ForceEffect Structural Example - YouTube . (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved May 23, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_-kS68z78U

Autodesk ForceEffect Mechanical Example - YouTube . (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved May 23, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlGUKh9gxt4

Autodesk ForceEffect Motion - YouTube . (n.d.). YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. . Retrieved May 23, 2012, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyKQetLnxOg  

EDIM 508 Week 2_Storyboarding

-->

Currently I teach a second level course that consists of a Video Production unit. The students within my class are already familiar with Storyboarding and what it is because of doing it in the first level course. When I introduce Storyboarding at the second level, I go more in-depth and show the students how it is used at an industry level. Although I have this more in-depth information about Storyboarding, I do not currently have any introductory level information. Knowing that the teacher who teaches the first level is going to retire in the next decade, I figured I would use this opportunity to gather some.

The video resource I found is a great introduction to what Storyboarding is, why it is used, and a review of content that would be previously taught. The video may seem a little out dated, but the content is presented is what is important. The video starts out by explaining that a storyboard is the building blocks of your video. It allows for a visual and written representation of the storyline and how each scene needs to be shot. The video then moves onto an interview of a student who explains his experience and opinion of how useful it is. Next, the video changes presenters and goes into camera movements. This part of the video is perfect review material from what my students would have been taught the project before Storyboarding.

I feel that my students would enjoy this video. Not only would they have the satisfaction of already knowing material presented, they also are able to identify with the people being presented within the video, as they are around the same age of student. Seeing another students their age always help them have more confidence in doing the activity by themselves, especially something that may be uncomfortable territory like drawing. For those students who struggle socially or verbally, Storyboarding is a good activity that allows them to plan through visual representation. Having the freedom to plan and a create scenes will increase the amount of engagement and interest in a simple activity.

Welcome to Discovery Education | Discovery Education . (n.d.). Welcome to Discovery Education | Discovery Education . Retrieved May 17, 2012, from http://player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=7CFC1858-0413-4E4C-A0FE-D76D05B40BCC&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US

 

EDIM 508 Week 1_728 Challenge

-->

My name is Jon Jarrett. I am a Technology and Engineering teacher. My goal for this course is to be exposed to current media that I do not already use. My philosophy of teaching is very simple. The digital media world is changing and we as teachers need to change with it to create an engagingly fun, hands-on, real-life classroom environment. I feel the greatest benefit of technology and digital media within the classroom is also my biggest concern with it. My students are entrenched in everyday technology, such as word processing, to advanced technology, such as laser engraving and 3D printing, on a daily basis. This not only is an amazing experience for them, but it also turns into a huge distraction from the tasks at hand. My current classroom differs from my High School classroom in the way technology is used, it’s abundance, and it’s advancement.