My Technology Mini Course is Live!!

That's right! I have created a technology mini course for educators. It can help build confidence and jump start implementation of more technology into your classroom.
If you would like to learn more about my course, check out my page "Technology Mini Course" that I created dedicated to this course. You can read about the details and access the live link to take the course.

Great APPS for Primary Teachers

I researched and explored many apps for primary teachers to use in their classroom.
Check out my new page "App Resources" to see which ones I highlighted!
I am sure I will be adding more to them as I find good ones.
If you have some that you think should be on my list, I want to know about it. :)
Thanks!

A New Culture of Learning-Reflection

A New Culture of Learning written by Douglas Thomas and John Seely Brown highlights how learning is shifting due to the rapid changes of technology. Technology tools are now shaping this new culture of learning. Learning needs to be viewed in terms of some one's environment combined with digital resources.There are three principles in the new culture of learning. The first one is that old ways of learning can not keep up with the technology changes. Second is that peer to peer learning is now driving the new culture of learning and is focused on interaction and participation. The last principle is the collective nature of this participation that has been evolving.  A new culture of learning puts emphasis giving students the opportunity to explore passions while having boundaries.
Some of my "take aways"from the book start with the notion that we don't have a choice but to change our view of education due to the rapid changes in technology. We have to embrace it.

In addition, the book discussed tacit knowledge as gaining knowledge through personal experience and experimentation. The concept of learning this way is not knew.In fact, it's been known that adding a personal element to learning is always beneficial.  However, understanding that technology allows students to learn in this way every time that are interacting with technology is really profound. The last major "take away" is that there is a process to learning through technology just like there is a process to learning through other means. The concepts of hanging out, messing around, and geeking out really helped me understand that students will be engaging in different ways with technology just as they do with other methods of learning.

I felt that the book was integrating ideas of different resources that we have been learning about throughout our course. Lucy Gray's webinar had an element of urgency for educators to embrace the fast pace changes of technology and to nurture those that were on board in order to foster the change. This ties into the book's idea that we must embrace the change because we don't have a choice. Another connection is the peer to peer learning concept. Carly Shuler discusses the importance of collaboration and interaction with mobile learning in the Pockets of Potential Report which is essentially peer to peer learning through mobile devices.  Lastly, in a very broad sense, the book, The New Culture of Learning, is a good argument in favor of a redefinition of learning due to technology. There were times during my exploration of this argument, that the elements of this book would come to mind.

If asked if I would recommend this book, I would if the reader needed to understand the concept of  how technology is changing learning. Not so sure it would be on my list for pleasure reading. HA!  Because I am an auditory learner, the book alone wasn't as helpful as using all of our other resources collectively. However, as I reflected on the book, I did feel it was beneficial to my understanding of what learning with technology looks like and it created a deeper understanding for me about engagement with our changing technological world.

Web Tools for Educators

I have spent time researching and developing a list of web tools that can be used by teachers in the younger grades.  As a student mentor, I am working closely with adult students who are going to be primary teachers. When creating this resource, I kept in mind that teachers who teach and will be teaching in the primary grades will utilize different types of technology than educators who have older students. When selecting my web tools, I looked for a variety of different types of tools since teachers need resources just for themselves for networking and organizing as well as appropriate resources that their younger students can use for their learning.  So, I categorized my tools by teacher use, student use, and both.

Starting with the teacher only resources, I thought it was very important to find resources that could help teachers collaborate and share with other teachers. We have learned that collaboration is a big part of the 21st Century Learning Skills. Blogger and Edublogs are great for this because teachers can create their own blogs and share their experiences. Slideshare and Prezi are great for creating presentations and sharing them. Older students could also take advantage of slideshare.

For the student only resources that I picked, I really tried to focus on technology tools that allow students to create and personalize. Younger students really learn well when they can individualize their learning and make their learning more self centered. I found a few resources that focus on creating stories and books. Some of the tools that I found appropriate and useful for this are Doink, StoryBird, and StoryJumper.

There are a plethora of web tools that both teachers and students can take advantage of.  I included some of the more common ones because I felt that these are vital for educators to be using. Google Docs and You Tube are good examples. Google Docs allows for collaboration and sharing of information while You Tube has videos available addressing anything and everything you could possibly need. Not to mention that students can publish their own videos and share them with the entire world.  Here is the resource that I have developed which includes more than just the web tools that I have highlighted in my blog.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B2LZjqhg9oA2ZE9INmNjNk51cGs/edit

What is important to acknowledge is that teachers are going to to need to know how to infuse these tools into their curriculum. Infusing technology is different than in the past. It's not about taking a technology class like you would take gym class. It's about using and integrating technology as part of the curriculum. Teachers need to be proficient and up to date with the latest technology skills.  Technology has been changing so rapidly that teachers are not going to be able to stay stagnant when it comes to incorporating technology. This means that academic curriculum is going to have to be modern, dynamic,flexible, and ever-changing to infuse the fast pace advancements in technology.

WGU-Redefining Learning with Technology

Check out my digital story about how Western Governors University is changing the paradigm of higher education and helping to redefine learning with technology.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoJphEt3LR4

Has Technology Redefined Learning?

Technology has not completely changed how we learn, but I am sure that technology is shifting the definition of learning and what makes a successful learner in the modern day world.  The 21st Century Skills framework includes Learning and Innovation as crucial skills to acquire. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills states that these skills "separate students who are prepared for increasingly complex life and work environments in the 21st Century from those who are not prepared." And shouldn't this really be the focus of what our students our working towards in their education? What really is more important than being an productive adult who can manage their life and be successful in the workplace?
The video: http://newlearninginstitute.org/film-series/a-21st-century-education/technology-and-21st-century-learning helps support this viewpoint.  It's NOT about who is buried in Grant's tomb . Facts don't matter anymore and students won't reach their potential with just knowing their facts. They need to be problem solvers, critical thinkers, and decision makers. These are the skills necessary in the 21st century. Technology allows for students to gain these skills through exploring, engaging, and directing themselves in their learning instead of someone telling them what they need to know.

This is not a black and white issue. What should to be addressed is that technology alone can not redefine learning. Educators using technology as an integral part of their curriculum can change how students learn. Technology may be shifting the definition of learning, but it can't be done without the guidance, support, and facilitating of educators who have engaged their students and have their attention already. The article, Tech Happy Professor Reboots After Hearing His Teaching Advice Isn't Working, written by Jeffrey R. Young, acknowledges the need for a relationship between the professor and the student. Christopher Sorenson, named National Teacher of the Year, discussed the importance of his presence with his students. The article quotes him stating: "The messenger, ironically enough, is more important than the message.  If the messenger is excited and passionate about what they have to say, it leaves a good impression. It stimulates students to see what all this excitement is about." Students will always need teachers and educators to lead them down the best path for their learning.

Technology will continue to change education. And education will need to continue to evolve based on the rapid changes happening in the digital world. But most importantly, educators have to know what works for their students. It doesn't really matter how they are learning, as long as they become successful, life long learners.

Here is my group's collaborative conversation concerning how technology is redefining learning. What I found most effective in using the collaborative method was how other people's thoughts activated me to think more about the topic. Having other models of critical thinking to be able to reflect on furthered my own thought process.
http://typewith.me/p/Moodle_Mates

<iframe src='http://typewith.me/p/Moodle_Mates?showControls=true&showChat=true&showLineNumbers=true&useMonospaceFont=false' width=600 height=400>

The Digital Divide-A New Understanding

I found our learning about the digital divide to be very eye opening. One of the other threads in our presentation quoted: "Access is not the dividing line in technology". I thought this really summed up what the new digital divide really is addressing.  The lightbulb moment for me is that it makes sense that there is a new kind of digital divide outside of just having acces to the internet, but that I assumed that everyone was utilizing it to the same degree. This feels very similiar to other assumptions that society and educators have made about our learners of today. Not everyone can just hop online and fill out a job application. There are many minorities out there that just have internet access through their cell phones and are not capable of accessing many resources that broadband internet access provides.  Sara Hertz does a great job explaining this using the terms "entertainment vs. empowerment:.

Hertz, M. B. (n.d.).  A new understanding of the digital divide| Edutopia. K-12 Education & Learning Innovations with Proven Strategies that Work | Edutopia. Retrieved January 6, 2012 http://www.edutopia.org/blog/digital-divide-technology-internet-access-mary-beth-hertz

When I was teaching in the Indianapolis Public School System, it was difficult to grasp the "have and have nots" of my students' daily life even down to the simplest amenities such as a coat and gloves. Becoming more educated on the digital divide felt the same way. I, myself, had misconceptions about the internet accessibility across different cultural groups. This was such a good reality check about how technological access to resources provides many more opportunites than I had realized.

Watching the class presentation on the New Digital Divide, https://voicethread.com/share/3225021/,
 I felt that many of the other threads addressed the misconceptions of the new digitial divide. I am wondering if other people had experienced this same kind of  "aha" moment that I had about my assumptions and this is why the chose to address the misconceptions.
I also thought the thread did a gret job of addressing how important it is for educators to know that students may have limited knowledge about how to use the internet for personal growth due to their experience with the internet as just being for entertainment purposes. Educators need to teach their students how to productively use their internet.