Innovation Through Technology

21st-Century Word Cloud. Source http://thedogatemyhomework.pbworks.com

Why do our schools need to embrace the innovations of visualization, democratization of knowledge and participatory cultures of learning. Which of the three innovations will you be most likely to be able to address in your classroom and division? Why? What challenges will need to be addressed?

After reading Cheryl Lemke’s chapter on “Innovation Through Technology” from her book titled 21^st Century Skills: Rethinking How Students Learn (2011), more than ever, I have come to the realization that todays education system needs to be adapted to todays’ students.  I believe it is vital for our schools to embrace the innovations of visualization, democratization of knowledge and participatory cultures of learning.  I believe this to be true because we are now fully into the 21^st century it is not the future it is today and it has been for 12 years.  There are basic 21^st century learning skills that need to be addressed.  Web 2.0 is the standard of how our students interact and how our students spend their time out of school.  As Lemke mentions in her book, “96 percent of nine- to seventeen-year-olds embrace the Web 2.0 culture of social networking, blogging, tweeting, GPS mapping, or interactive gaming at some level”.  We need to address this culture at school too in order to ensure that students are involved and empowered to ensure that they will be ready to face and conquer this high-tech world.   The top reasons for using Web 2.0 in the classroom are to keep students interested and involved in school, this allows for different types of learning styles to be met, and following Web 2.0 develops critical thinking skills of students.

http://cte.uwaterloo.ca/teaching_resources/tips/promoting_effective_classroom_participation.html

I find it a challenging task to determine which one of the three innovations to most likely be able to address in the classroom.  They are all vital, and at the same time it is very difficult for me to imagine them being implemented with five year olds.   I am leaning towards the innovation of: Participatory Learning.  This would be because society is increasingly emphasizing on team work and collaboration, in other words participatory learing.  The idea of participating and communicating with each other in real time offers endless opportunities in education throughout all grade levels. It is important to create an education program that actively engages students instead of having them passively observe.  

Being Visually Literate

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The term or concept "Visual Literacy" is pretty new to me. When I started this Master's course I vaguely had an idea of what it meant, however, the more I read and find out about what it encompasses I realize it is a vital competency in todays world. Perhaps I was once introduced to the idea (with no name) early in my life, through projects, art classes... after all, the usage of images that aid in making your projects or ideas more powerful had always been encouraged in my schooling years. Now I know this skill has a name, now I understand where it comes from, now I know it is a literacy.   After reading the article by Hattwig, D., Burgess, J. and Medaille, A, ACRL Visual Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education http://www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/standards/visualliteracy.pdf I come to the understanding that there is much more than knowing what Visual Literacy is. There are a number of skills and standards that one must follow or comprehend to be fully visual literate.

Which essential skills represent your strengths in order to engage capably in a visually oriented society? Being a lifelong learner is the basic skill one must present in order to engage capably in a visually oriented society. This now means that I am open for new ideas, I have a flexible attitude towards understanding the direction where the world is going to. That being said, I am not visually literate yet per se, but I am in all the disposition in becoming so, and I have all the skills to do so.

Which skills do you need to build on in order to facilitate the development of your students’ skills and competencies to engage with images, and to critically use and create visual media to enhance their learning in your classes?

In my opinion I believe in introducing the use of images from an early age, creates an awareness of the importance of creative visual media in education. It is important as a teacher to be aware of the standards that Hattwig et al mention in their article. It is only by truly understanding and following the pertinent visual literacy competency standards, that one as an educator will transmit the right message to our students. The outcome itself is to enable the individual (us, our students, society for that matter) to effectively find, interpret, evaluate, use and create images and visual media (Hattwig et al).

Integrating visual literacy into your curriculum may require partnerships and shared implementation strategies across departments and/or units. Whom might you be partnering with and why? The integration of visual literacy is a must for all grade levels. As I mentioned before even us at the Early Childhood Center can and should give our students their first taste of Visual Literacy. I believe grade levels should partner up and decide on what would be an appropriate level of visual literacy for each unit. Another important department to include in the development of this implementation would be the Libraries and Resource Rooms. It is important to have shared implementation strategies as it is a goal that all our students no matter who their teacher is, have the same bases so they can build up on that in years to come. 

Why the Traditional Education Paradigm is Outdated

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After reading "The Wrong Bet: Why Common Curriculum and Standards Won't Help" chapter 1 of his book World Class Learners, Zhao,Y. “The Wrong Bet: Why Common Curriculum & Standards Won’t Help", World Class Learners: Educating Creative and Entrepreneurial Learners.Pp. 23 – 45 I have gone from agreeing to disagreeing to agreeing once again with his idea of how the traditional educational paradigm is outdated. In particular Zhao mentions the idea of how adopting common curriculum and standards, not only nation wide but aiming to adopt a worldwide common curriculum will not help todays and for that matter tomorrows students be better prepared for the economic or social world they will face once they graduate.

At first I wanted to believe in that having an equal opportunity for all would bridge the gap between "developed" and "developing" countries, or even close the opportunity/economical gap within one country; that offering a standardized educational model would give everyone the same educational experience whether you studied in Mexico or in the United States, in a big city or a rural community. Of course in theory this sounds great, more like a utopia.  There are so many other factors influencing education and todays fast paced, evolving and changing world we live in, that even the thought of keeping the traditional educational paradigm seems not only outdated but absurd.

To begin with, I totally agree with the idea that this model was developed at a time where the world was moving at a slower pace, changes didn’t occur as rapidly.  Everything was thought of locally.  We have now moved from local to global and physical distances are no longer a barrier but rather a new opportunity.  Also of great importance is the point Sir Ken Robinson addresses in his video “Changing Education Paradigms”, of HOW we need to educate today’s students for the economies of tomorrow if we do not know what it will look like by the end of this week  Sir Ken Robinson’s video touches on many of the outdated aspects of the traditional education paradigm as well which support the idea that it is an outdated model.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Another aspect and one that we as educators should address in our classrooms is that the traditional educational paradigm is based on standardized test results.  Therefore is education aimed at preparing students for taking these tests?  And will better results have a direct impact on how prepared you will be once you graduate?  Sadly no, it is not that simple.  Of course students should have their basic skills and subjects up to par, but not while sacrificing the more “disposable” subjects or social skills.  Education is not about everybody being good at math and language skills exclusively, but also about embracing the arts, and acquiring different skills that will better enable the students to cope with change, to adapt and embrace this “unknown” future.    

It is by working and studying in international institutions that I have had the blessing of being surrounded by non-traditional educational models per se.  And yes, these opportunities have enabled me to be creative, innovative and global.  I truly believe in promoting this with my students.  This will only be achievable by fostering in them core values as well as critical, creative and analytical thinking and technology skills that will enable them to be competent global citizens themselves.

Assignment 2

How can students use their devices to take notes and organize their information?
We utilized Skitch by Evernote to take notes on a video that was appropriate for the age group of our students.  We chose a video on Learn360 about the importance of balanced Breakfast, Snacks, Lunch and Dinners.  In our case, we were able to add labels, draw freehand, create clocks of the suggested meal times.  For our students, ages 5-6 this would have been a very difficult taks as they are still learning how to write and specially how to coordinate their fine motor skills, which need to be quite precise for freehand drawing.  A more appropriate activity for their age group still using Skitch would be to give them the material such as a picture, and have them scribble or draw OVER it to show the most important elements or something that they would like to point out.

How can students use mobile devices to collaborate and make research more effective?
By researching with mobile devices the notes gathered and the research collected by the students becomes available to all and is easier to save and share this information with their peers.  This facilitates collaboration among the students.

Which strategies can be used by teachers to support different learning styles and levels of competency?
As teachers we could support different learning styles by introducing and adopting various note taking applications and programs.  They all cover the main purpose which is to take notes, yet, each application has its own characteristics which appeal differently to the disting learning styles of our students.

Pre-Assignment 8

Adapting Teaching Methods to Become Real 21st Century Educators

Taking into consideration both Why Mobile Learning? and Above And Beyond  videos, several ideas on how educators should adapt new teaching methods to become real 21st century educators come to my mind.

To start off, the 21st century is not the future, it is today and we have been living it for the past 12 years.  Nonetheless, with ever changing technologies and application of such technologies, it has become an even more important task to "catch up" with the 21st century teaching expectations.

The video of Why Mobile Learning? is an inspiration on how mobile devices are now closing gaps in education by proving to be essential in the development of children with special needs.  More than ever before there are tools out there that enhance the learning experience.  Ipads are now aiding students with autism to become more independent and prove to give them the tools they need to learn material that before would just have been a battle to learn.   Ipads, ipods and many mobile devices give the opportunity for mute girl to "have a voice".  Mobile learning is definitely a teaching method to adopt in every classroom as it is opening new gates of education not only in traditional education but also in development of special needs education.

On the other hand, the Above and Beyond video is not explicitly speaking of the importance of mobile devices in education but speaks of the importance of vital 21st Century educational-learning skills such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity.  It is a very simple video that sends a clear message that I could sum up with the following quote by Hodding Carter Jr: "There are two lasting bequests we can give our children.  One is roots.  The other is WINGS."  This resonates with me as it is very true that the 21st Century educator must never forget to foster skills such as the ones mentioned above.  We may teach and be guides in our students' education however the most important thing we can provide is their "wings".  This is, provide them with enough tools and skills so that they are competent to make their own judgements, create their own thoughts and ideas and be innovators.

We are living a mobile learning revolution, education teaching methods need to be re-examined and new teaching methodologies must be implemented to keep up, but more to keep WITH this revolution.  It is not only about adopting certain gadgets that will "do the trick".  It is more of a change in mindset.  It is fostering 21st Century skills and fuse them to the use of technologies to the best of our teaching-learning advantage in order to provide our students with the TRUE 21st century education they deserve.

EDC 672 - Pre-Assignment 6

Bill Rankin's Mobile Learning presentation

• In what ways did the lecture make you think about your own perspective of education in time? 
• How does his lecture change you view on mobile devices and their use in education?

Bill Rankin's Mobile Learning at ACU: Full Presentation  was an eyeopener for me.  Of course I was aware that technology and the use of it in the classroom were ever so present as they are today, however his reasoning and ideas of how it is we got to where we are today are not only interesting but also quite logical and foreseeable.  He talkes about the cycles of technological change and makes you realize how it is an ongoing circle.  Once we are at the stage where creations of new technologies threaten our existing culture there needs to be a NEW beginning of a cycle by creating technologies that become successful by SOLVING problems or cultural "threats" and thus the cycle begins again.  

I believe that the presentation was quite easy to digest and explained in simple terms.  He provided real life examples of how the use of technology has been implemented since the 3rd century with the use of scroll vs. codex vs. hand printed books vs. printing press vs. internet and beyond. How each one presented/solved a problem for society, wether it was about FINDING or ASSESSING the information each era has its challenges and there is where room for technological growth and development takes place.

We should take advantage of where we are in terms of technology in order to provide our students with the most meaningful learning experience possible.  It is an era were we as teachers are our students' mentors, we need to live and work in relationship with them.  It is not our job to FEED the information to our students as it was done in the past.  Technology and information are not replacing us as their guides.  We now need to adress informational problems of the current age meeting the reality that the students of today face and not how the previous model used to work, and we do this by providing technological tools and mobile devices that aid in the search of information, in the development of ideas, and by hands on usage of technology in real life scenarios both inside the classroom and out. 

Assignment 5

Applying both blooms taxonomy and the super 3 into lesson plans will ensure a higher lever of thinking and a better sense of information literacy from an early age.   While I do believe that it is a very time consuming process, especially while you are learning as you go to do it, it will provide for a more effective and efficient learning experience for your students.

The way I would do it is to plan according to both strategies, a whole unit.  This way the students will not feel overwhelmed with processes and theory behind their already challenging exercises.  It too would become overly tiresome to apply this higher level of thinking process to ALL lessons.