Dave Eveland's Posts - Classroom 2.02024-03-28T11:22:16ZDave Evelandhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/DaveEvelandhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1950125611?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://www.classroom20.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=25u9erv6v3gha&xn_auth=noLooking for a good hybrid/blend definition...tag:www.classroom20.com,2013-04-30:649749:BlogPost:9297372013-04-30T18:30:00.000ZDave Evelandhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/DaveEveland
<p>As I continue to come up with a definition of hybrid courses or at the very least how to put adjectives to the noun I'm trying to get a handle on, here's a first attempt. What do you think?</p>
<p><strong>A Definition</strong>: Hybrid courses leverage the best of what traditional face-to-face instruction offers with the flexibility, power, and accessibility of online instruction. Merely taking elements of both and throwing them together into a course <em>does not embody the best…</em></p>
<p>As I continue to come up with a definition of hybrid courses or at the very least how to put adjectives to the noun I'm trying to get a handle on, here's a first attempt. What do you think?</p>
<p><strong>A Definition</strong>: Hybrid courses leverage the best of what traditional face-to-face instruction offers with the flexibility, power, and accessibility of online instruction. Merely taking elements of both and throwing them together into a course <em>does not embody the best representation of a hybrid course</em> any more than throwing a bunch of diverse components together to form a hybrid vehicle. Rather, the intent behind building a hybrid course is to take into consideration course goals and objectives, best practices in pedagogy, appropriate face-to-face methods and available technologies to create a course whose individual components work together synergistically – by design, not by coincidence.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python_and_the_Holy_Grail"><img class="align-right" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/49/Monty_python_and_the_holy_grail_2001_release_movie_poster.jpg?width=236" width="236"/></a>Decisions about course design are driven primarily by the course goals and objectives. Courses can go lots of places and directions - and inevitably they will, even if they have a great instructor, but if they're not designed with a particular end or target in mind the end point may not be the intended destination. There are thousands of books, articles, papers and peer-reviewed research that points to the importance of pedagogy. Highlighting the goals of a course against the backdrop of a proven and relevant pedagogy sets the course up for the addition of the next to elements: face-to-face methods and online technologies. Using course objectives as a lens and pedagogy as a mirror, instructors/designers should then take into consideration the differing components of face-to-face and online instruction.</p>
<p>It's often here that most instructors/designers get hung up. Everything seems to get pinned on the answer to the question: "What do I do online and what do I do face-to-face?" The answer to the question is not unlike <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071853/quotes?item=qt0470601" target="_blank">the answers</a> King Arthur's knights had to give at the crossing of the Bridge of Death - they <em>will were different</em>, <strong><em>but they were all true -</em></strong> <em>that is for those who made it ac</em><em>ross the bridge</em><strong><em>.</em></strong></p>
<p>The easiest thing to do would be to determine all the various types of face-to-face methods that could be used, alongside all the technologies that online could provide and align them with the course goals and objectives. I'll grant that course design this way requires an extensive amount of work, especially going into the course. It requires the instructor/designer to have an awareness not only of the content to be taught, but also to be aware of who they will be teaching, the context in which they'll be teaching, and to be well practiced in good pedagogy and the available technology.</p>
<p><a href="http://thinknspot.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/optimalhybridcoursedesignblendedcourseinstructionaldesignonlinef2ffacetoface.jpg"><img class="alignnone wp-image-2540" alt="optimalhybridcoursedesignblendedcourseinstructionaldesignonlinef2ffacetoface" src="http://thinknspot.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/optimalhybridcoursedesignblendedcourseinstructionaldesignonlinef2ffacetoface.jpg?w=630" height="379" width="454"/></a></p>
<p>I spent a bit of time growing up in Europe, and one of the things that always fascinated me was the majestic and towering character of the church buildings there. My impression of each of them always left me thinking how precise and intentional the builders had to have been. The <a href="http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/CSN/CSN_Storia.html" target="_blank">Sistine Chapel</a> with it's awe-inspiring back-story (whose designer) had many, many design talents - surly had to have been intentional about how he pulled together the strengths of each element he employed in his work.</p>
<p>I can't imagine that the work of course designers/instructors should be any less when constructing a blended course, or any course in general for that matter.</p>
<p>Crossposted from: <a href="http://wp.me/p2JLSQ-EV">http://wp.me/p2JLSQ-EV</a></p>Failure needs to be a Choice, but not the Destinationtag:www.classroom20.com,2013-02-05:649749:BlogPost:9092512013-02-05T16:29:22.000ZDave Evelandhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/DaveEveland
<p><a href="http://thinknspot.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/img_1813.jpg" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="http://thinknspot.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/img_1813.jpg?w=300&width=300" width="300"></img></a></p>
<p>I've been thinking quite a bit over this subject of failure and the fear</p>
<p>that absolutely paralyzes out of action. This is is true in many areas of life, though I see it rather prevalent within the context of teaching and especially learning.…</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://thinknspot.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/img_1813.jpg"><img class="align-right" src="http://thinknspot.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/img_1813.jpg?w=300&width=300" width="300"/></a></p>
<p>I've been thinking quite a bit over this subject of failure and the fear</p>
<p>that absolutely paralyzes out of action. This is is true in many areas of life, though I see it rather prevalent within the context of teaching and especially learning. <a title="Failure is Mandatory: Creating a Culture of Innovation" href="http://edudemic.com/2013/02/failure-is-mandatory-creating-a-culture-of-innovation/" target="_blank">Tom Daccord put it best the other day</a>, when he said, "We value risk-taking traits in our students, but we often avoid [it] in our own instructional practices."</p>
<p>The learning process is not about getting it right - though we've built classrooms, curriculum, courses and whole colleges and universities around this idea. I think there's a time and place for getting the answer correct - standardized tests come to mind rather quickly. Yet the measure of a student is far better appreciated when we're able to remember where they've come from and how far they have progressed.</p>
<p>One of the things I love to tinker with is growing things during the spring and summer seasons of the year. From time to time when I have time, I'll even start seeds indoors while there's still a chance of frost outside. I've even taken up an entire side of our kitchen counters for days, just to get the planters filled with dirt and get the seeds started. I plant all kinds of things: flowers, herbs, vegetables. I don't really have a rhyme or reason for what I choose, but I know that at some point further down the road there's a possibility that I may see the potential they hold.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://thinknspot.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/dsc_0457.jpg"><img class="align-right" src="http://thinknspot.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/dsc_0457.jpg?w=300&width=300" width="300"/></a></p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Some will be tall.<br/>Some will be short.<br/>Some will be colorful.<br/>Some will be aromatic.</p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">Some will need a structure to support their growth; others will just need a steadying force.<br/>Some of them will need light to shine - while others will need less light to shine.<br/>Some of them will produce fruit - others will produce thorns.<br/>Some of them will grow great in planters, while others will yearn still for more space than I can give them.</p>
<p>All of them have the potential to grow, but none of them will grow in same way on the same day.What I can do is learn about how they best grow, knowing I'm not going to get it 'just right' every time. As a teacher I must learn from my failures rather than being undone by them. Failure is not an opportunity that orders us to sulk - it can be a subtle breeze that requires us to begin again.</p>
<p>We need to treat failure not as our intended destination, but as a necessary component of success - a required oar in the set of tools that help propel us forward in our learning journey. This means that we have got to get to a place where we place greater value on failures resulting from honest effort rather than stigmatizing it as something that makes us <em>less human</em>, and more 'wrong'. This doesn't mean we intentionally lead or go on journeys we know to be counter productive, but that we allow room to learn from failures as much as we praise learning that results in 'correct answers'.</p>
<p>When I get seeds for my garden, I often get them from plants I've had in the past. Sometimes I even pick them up from plants I see around where I live. From time to time though, I do pick them up from the store - and it's often so tempting to simply skip the seeds and go straight to the seedlings, medium or full sized ones; well-manicured, already in nice planters - ready to go. I'll grant that I've done that sometimes - yet the reward remains at the aesthetic level - I have no appreciation for ever having journeyed <em>with</em> those plants. I have no idea, nor can I appreciate how they may have struggled, or what type of care they needed to begin with. I simply 'standardize' on giving them water and sunlight, and expect that they'll continue to be a successful part of the garden.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" href="http://thinknspot.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/img_1805.jpg"><img class="align-right" src="http://thinknspot.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/img_1805.jpg?w=225&width=225" width="225"/></a></p>
<p>I think we have to do (to a measure) what <a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/sir_ken_robinson_bring_on_the_revolution.html#240000" target="_blank">Sir Ken Robinson says</a>, “Human resources are like natural resources; they're often buried deep. You have to go looking for them, they're not just lying around on the surface. <em>You have to create the circumstances where they show themselves</em>.” We have to create the circumstances that help children (and ourselves) figure out and develop those capacities that are - in fact buried deep - and failure is part of that.</p>
<p>Not all my plants grow to their full potential - I'm not a professional gardener. Yet with each year, each plant and season - I learn. I learn that my grape vine <em>doesn't want to be watered</em> - if it's too ever produce any fruit. I've learned that while I can plant strawberries - they will not flourish because of how dry the soil is. I've learned that my hydrangeas need so much more light - and so I moved them. I figured out that large planters really do need drainage, or whatever I put in them will suffocate and kill the roots of whatever I put in them. I even learned that aphids can be overcome with ladybugs.</p>
<h4>Go grow. Grow students. Grow children. Grow yourself; even from failure.</h4>First Class Review - 28 Aug 2012tag:www.classroom20.com,2012-08-29:649749:BlogPost:8694052012-08-29T17:45:55.000ZDave Evelandhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/DaveEveland
<p>As an educator, it's important to be reflective of my practice, not for the sake of boasting, but for the sake of being able to recall what went well, what worked - and definitely how things could be improved for the next time I teach this particular session of CPED2023 for <a href="http://www.johnsonu.edu" target="_blank">Johnson University</a>.</p>
<p>I spend what my wife probably thinks is an inordinate amount of time pining over and re-examining my course content, flow and learning…</p>
<p>As an educator, it's important to be reflective of my practice, not for the sake of boasting, but for the sake of being able to recall what went well, what worked - and definitely how things could be improved for the next time I teach this particular session of CPED2023 for <a href="http://www.johnsonu.edu" target="_blank">Johnson University</a>.</p>
<p>I spend what my wife probably thinks is an inordinate amount of time pining over and re-examining my course content, flow and learning experiences each term - or at the very least each summer. I look to improve the course, to re-examine the units, the content and timing of those learning experiences. Why? Well it's just like I tell my students, technology keeps moving forward - despite our best efforts or lack of effort to keep it from doing so. Someone, somewhere, somehow, someway thinks that there's a better, different, or more effective or efficient way for technology to do or aid us in what we do. This becomes even more (seemingly) convoluted when it additionally involves education.</p>
<p>I really do enjoy what I teach - I love that it's not stagnant and unchanging - though the pace [with which technology changes] does get the best of me sometimes. It's tough to keep up. With this idea in mind, I've decided that a goal for the course is to introduce students to the element of technology integration, understanding that while it changes, it's important to be aware and make use of a few select technologies that help in the betterment of their classroom learning and instruction. We can't know everything there is to know about technology - that's what Google is for. (Right?) Rather it's about being able to find out and effectively use a few technologies in the support and improvement of academic, administrative and the professional development functions of students learning to be teachers. I know that's a mouthful, but it really hits at the crux of what can be accomplished in a short 16 week course, meant to introduce students to 'educational technology'.<a target="_blank" href="http://www.wordle.net"><img width="600" class="align-center" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974062652?profile=RESIZE_1024x1024" width="600"/></a></p>
<p>Interestingly, when I asked my class to identify what they associate with 'educational technology', i got well over 100 responses, and when codified using <a href="http://www.wordle.net" target="_blank">Wordle</a>, a few select words stood out: smartboard and ipad. While several others also got attention, it thought it interesting that the things students expect to interact with most - that is the hardware seemed to be of greater prominence. To be sure, educational technology is about the hardware, and to a degree I would argue that hardware 'came first' when being added to education, but it's since been infused with software, what I call 'webware'. But all this isn't enough - students learning to be teachers (also known as per-service teachers or interns) also need to critically begin their understanding of instruction and technology integration with sound pedagogy.</p>
<p> </p>
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</p>
<p></p>
<p></p>
<p>So as I look back on this week's first class session, I reflect on what we thought about:</p>
<ul>
<li>The importance and influence of teachers</li>
<li>The critical nature of thinking in learning (contrasted with knowledge accumulation/acquisition)</li>
<li>The need to understand creativity in children and it's need to be elevated to at least equal importance among the subjects/domains</li>
</ul>
<p>And great questions posed:</p>
<ul>
<li>What has education offered to demonstrate it's evolution? (from <a href="http://youtu.be/-P2PGGeTOA4" target="_blank">Brown</a>)</li>
<li>Is education broken?</li>
<li>If education is broken can it be fixed or does it need to be re-invented entirely?</li>
<li>What about our personal educational experiences speaks to 'what works' and 'what does not work' for our own learning?</li>
<li>Is the default educational experience simply a 'protracted entrance to college' - as <a href="http://youtu.be/iG9CE55wbtY" target="_blank">Robinson</a> presents it?</li>
<li>Given all that we know, how does that impact us as we <em>continue to become</em> a 'real' teacher?</li>
</ul>
<p> </p>
<p>I think there's room for change, and while change doesn't mean perfection overnight, it does mean that <a href="http://youtu.be/7p_eKV3SzwE" target="_blank">we keep moving forward</a>. We choose to learn from our mistakes and realize our successes might not be repeatable, since variables change (student makeup, time of day, reliability of technology, composition of the environment, etc.). On the other hand, we become ever better practitioners - professional teachers. <span style="text-decoration: underline;">Professional</span> because of the why <strong><em>and</em></strong> how we teach, not because we possess a piece of paper from somewhere.</p>Week 1 Reviewtag:www.classroom20.com,2010-01-20:649749:BlogPost:4285692010-01-20T13:30:00.000ZDave Evelandhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/DaveEveland
Yesterday we held our first class in the new semester for the CPED 2023 (Introduction to Educational Technology) course. As much as I thought I had most of my thoughts together prior to starting the course there were so many more things I felt I left out.<p style="text-align: right;"><a class="noborder" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974055462?profile=original" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="75" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974055462?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="100"></img></a></p>
<br />
I would have liked to have painted a broader and yet more detailed view…
Yesterday we held our first class in the new semester for the CPED 2023 (Introduction to Educational Technology) course. As much as I thought I had most of my thoughts together prior to starting the course there were so many more things I felt I left out.<p style="text-align: right;"><a class="noborder" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974055462?profile=original" target="_blank"><img width="100" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974055462?profile=RESIZE_180x180" alt="" width="100" height="75"/></a></p>
<br />
I would have liked to have painted a broader and yet more detailed view of what we'll be studying. There's so much to Educational Technology (as many of us well know) and yet to teach it in a single 16 week course limits how much can be done. So what I hope to accomplish in the course is to expose the length, breadth and some depth of the technology that is and that's coming to the class.<br />
<br />
We came up with definitions of what educational technology is, which just about all included the idea of something new or innovative being used to enhance or aid in teaching and learning. Then we came up with the 'what does that look like' to educational technology. It includes cameras, the Internet, <a href="http://www.classroom20.com" target="_blank">Classroom 2.0</a>, email, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lite-Brite" target="_blank">LiteBright</a>, blu-ray, <a href="http://www.aol.com" target="_blank">AOL</a>, Atari 2600, <a href="http://lamp.acaweb.org" target="_blank">Sakai</a>, Microsoft, Apple, computers, hulu, YouTube, facebook, DVDs, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio" target="_blank">radios</a>, VCRs, Blackboard, Blackberries, iPhones, iPods, video cameras and so much more.<br />
<br />
The one thing I failed to emphasize in introducing the class it the age old problem working with technology. Technology is almost always moving forward (or at least in some direction) which is different or varied from where it was the day prior. This is to say that the technology as it exists today, in it's form or in how it's accomplished will be different in form or presentation in the following days, weeks, months and (definitely) years. Who knows how long <a href="http://www.cnn.com" target="_blank">CNN</a> will really use <a href="https://twitter.com/cnn" target="_blank">Twitter</a> for getting updates from regular people? Will there really be a point at which our TV becomes the one stop location for entertainment, information and communication - and in it's spare time doubles as a really cool looking fireplace? The difficulty in learning about technology is that it is ever changing, evolving into something newer and possibly more innovative. Learning about something that's in a constant state of change is difficult - but it is doable.<br />
<br />
Just look at what's being done with technology today:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.tech4learning.com/userfiles/file/pdfs/Pixie/Pixie2_Universal_Access.pdf" target="_blank">Creativity Tool for younger children</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.reading.org/Publish.aspx?page=/publications/journals/rt/v62/i8/abstracts/rt-62-8-zawilinski.html&mode=redirect" target="_blank">Building a framework for promoting Higher Order Thinking</a></li>
<li><a href="http://kelcori.weebly.com/" target="_blank">Teachers building their own Classroom Websites</a></li>
<li>YouTube? How about <a href="http://teachertube.com/" target="_blank">this</a> instead?</li>
<li><a href="http://www.edutopia.org/king-middle-school-expeditionary-learning" target="_blank">Project Based Learning that Utilizes Technology</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
It really is amazing to see what's out there and often my first feeling is that of the deer in the headlights - there's so much coming at me and I have no idea what to do except to stand here and be overwhelmed. With so much technology available to us today how do you use it all?<br />
<br />
You don't.<br />
<br />
You discover and explore a few technologies that will be appropriate and effective for use in instruction or with your administrative tasks and you focus on using those, until they're no longer as relevant or as effective as some other technology. Technology - even great technology will never replace a teacher. <a href="http://www.nickjr.com/" target="_blank">Moose A. Moose</a> calls himself a teacher on Nick Jr. -and he is, but he's not the kind of teacher who can facilitate and be available to help a student understand a process or problem the way a real flesh and bone one can.<br />
<br />
So in this class we'll explore and discover and play with and assess "what's out there", and how it's being used. We'll examine where all this technology came from (to gain an appreciation for what's here now, and where it's going). We'll also look at what teachers use today to enhance not only student learning but also their own professional practice.Talking about hardwaretag:www.classroom20.com,2009-09-16:649749:BlogPost:3829122009-09-16T15:15:45.000ZDave Evelandhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/DaveEveland
The class session where I discussed the elements of hardware seemed to go well enough, but not nearly as stellar as I'd hoped. I really feel like the text does a good job of covering the content - giving students a baseline understanding of the content - while in class we discuss some of the major points of the subject in class.<br />
<br />
…<p style="text-align: left;"><a class="noborder" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974053590?profile=original" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="95" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974053590?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="150"></img></a></p>
The class session where I discussed the elements of hardware seemed to go well enough, but not nearly as stellar as I'd hoped. I really feel like the text does a good job of covering the content - giving students a baseline understanding of the content - while in class we discuss some of the major points of the subject in class.<br />
<br />
<p style="text-align: left;"><a class="noborder" href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974053590?profile=original" target="_blank"><img width="150" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1974053590?profile=RESIZE_180x180" alt="" width="150" height="95"/></a></p>
I would really say that most of the time, fewer instances of Teachers having to interact directly with hardware (insofar as technical issues) exist as did in the past. The reliability and standardization of hardware has come a long way, far enough that I've even had discussions with others who have been in the field for over 20 years - and they've felt the same way - that hardware will really be taking a backseat to software - and in the years to come - software a backseat to webware (Web 2.0 and <a href="http://computer.howstuffworks.com/web-30.htm" target="_blank">3.0</a>).<br />
For the most part, hardware will remain less fluid than the software will in the next few years, so I'm hoping that we can spend more time discussing and interacting with those items - especially since those types of things have a better chance of being around - than the hardware in 4 to 5 years.<br />
<br />
To that end, I've added a link to a resource I've found to be invaluable on keeping up with current educational tips and new cool tools (both hardware and software - but mostly webware) on the Sakai course page. But you can also get to it <a href="http://techchicktips.net/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
We also discussed some elements of how to use <a href="http://www.livetext.com" target="_blank">LiveText</a> - getting in, moving around and creating content - in this case a sample document to help scaffold the steps of how to recreate a lesson plan in side of LiveText. Really once you get the hang of understanding that a document has parts: Document>Pages>Sections>Content, then you really can get a handle on working inside of LiveText and build just about any content - even including content from outside of LiveText.Grading... a thing most un-funtag:www.classroom20.com,2009-09-15:649749:BlogPost:3824182009-09-15T04:18:25.000ZDave Evelandhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/DaveEveland
While I don't have the greatest desire to do grading - I do like seeing the thinking process of students - the inner workings as it were. I was always fascinated by the big picture so cogs and wheels and remember my first understanding of what a cog was - it was from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h2fIqawdmE&feature=player_embedded#t=141" target="_blank">Mr. Cogswell of the Jetson's cartoon show</a>. That grew into an appreciation and an awe for the pictures of the inside of Big…
While I don't have the greatest desire to do grading - I do like seeing the thinking process of students - the inner workings as it were. I was always fascinated by the big picture so cogs and wheels and remember my first understanding of what a cog was - it was from <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h2fIqawdmE&feature=player_embedded#t=141" target="_blank">Mr. Cogswell of the Jetson's cartoon show</a>. That grew into an appreciation and an awe for the pictures of the inside of Big Ben -<p style="text-align:left"><img src="http://www.aboutbritain.com/images/attraction/bigben1.jpg"/></p>
in England - those cogs were huge - and it was amazing to see how everything seems to work together - in an almost majestic rhythm.<br />
I love seeing students think - and while I don't like grading - I enjoy reading student's journal entries - as I have been doing for the past hour or two. Looking through their thoughts - of what they discovered or were able to see confirmed about themselves in a few multiple choice inventory tests.<br />
<br />
There's something powerful about knowing that there's more than one way to learn, and I for one grew up always thinking that there was only one way to learn - and while I did well in school, it never dawned on me that there were other ways of learning - or that my verbal/linguistic background gave me an edge over my psychomotor-needy friends.<br />
<br />
When I discovered that there were multiple ways of learning - and that one or perhaps two of those ways - were keys to my own best success - it was amazing. It was like I'd discovered a secret entrance to an island. Education and learning opened up so much more to me - and became far less daunting and far more feasible.<br />
<br />
Today, I love learning about learning and seeing others learn. One of the most fascinating things to me is the ah-ha moment for students, seeing it or being a small part of it makes me feel like God let me in on something special in a student's life.Testtag:www.classroom20.com,2009-09-08:649749:BlogPost:3803282009-09-08T14:48:39.000ZDave Evelandhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/DaveEveland
Test to see if blogging still works.
Test to see if blogging still works.Class begins tomorrow... somewhat new.tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-01-19:649749:BlogPost:2669512009-01-19T16:00:00.000ZDave Evelandhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/DaveEveland
Aside from the fact that our country will have a <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/">new President</a> and a new administration at nearly this time tomorrow, my greatest concern is in what I can impact and work with in the here and now - and what's closest to me - that being the Introduction to Educational Technology course I teach each semester.<br />
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I have to say that teaching this course for me is very exciting - because it's in this course that I can engage up and-coming teaching professionals…
Aside from the fact that our country will have a <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/">new President</a> and a new administration at nearly this time tomorrow, my greatest concern is in what I can impact and work with in the here and now - and what's closest to me - that being the Introduction to Educational Technology course I teach each semester.<br />
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I have to say that teaching this course for me is very exciting - because it's in this course that I can engage up and-coming teaching professionals in this thing we like to call 'technology'. I really have to stay on my toes. Technology is always changing and therefore I can never keep up, but then again I don't have to know everything. A good professor of my own once told me, that learning had so much less to do with knowing all the information and more to do with knowing how to find information - and that's very, very true today. Sure, I'd agree with anyone that says there's a basic body of knowledge everyone should be familiar with - and as a former Middle School teacher I have to agree entirely, but I also know that giving students keys to learning is at least as important as 'knowing some facts'.<br />
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<img style="float:right;" src="http://www.iste.org/content/homepage/NETS-next_generation-sm.gif"/>It's these reasons that have made me very excited about realigning the course to reflect more acutely the new <a href="http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2008Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2008.htm">NETS Standards for Teachers</a>. When I first examined the standards, they almost seem more nebulous and far less concrete than those that <a href="http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForTeachers/2000Standards/NETS_for_Teachers_2000.htm">preceded it</a>, but then again, considering the subject matter - it's no wonder that a content area that changes so often would have to be less concrete and more dynamic. The new standards hinge far less on any one technology and more on the integration of technology and the ability of teachers to <i>learn how to use new technologies</i> from the knowledge they have of former technologies. Sounds like Piaget and <a href="http://www.exploratorium.edu/IFI/resources/museumeducation/priorknowledge.html">prior knowledge</a> to me. Standard 3a states, "Teachers exhibit knowledge, skills, and work processes representative of an innovative professional in a global and digital society. Teachers: demonstrate fluency in technology systems and the <i>transfer</i> of <u>current knowledge</u> to <b>new technologies and situations</b>." These statements, and others, help reflect the dynamic nature and need for the standards to guide a content area that is constantly in a state of change.<br />
So it is that class begins tomorrow, and some revisions have taken place within the course content - esp. since I'd been able to find a textbook that did so well to align technology content with the previous set of standards. Changing text books in the middle of the school year isn't my cup of tea, but looking at how I teach and what I teach and aligning things to the new standards was a bit more manageable - a bit.<br />
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I did actually come across a professor with the College of William and Marry, a Mark Hofer whose course syllabus <i>already</i> addressed the new standards in his fall 2008 <a href="http://crins07.wmwikis.net/"></a><p style="text-align:left"><img src="http://www.iste.org/nets"/></p>
CRINS07 course. I was encouraged and enlightened to see that others are already adapting to the new standards and incorporating them into their teaching. While consistently evaluating and possibly revising teaching methods and the way in which I go about teaching the content is in keeping with good pedagogy, it's tiring sometimes. Perhaps with the economy slowing down, technology will take a breath to let me take one. Somehow I doubt it.Reflecting more often...tag:www.classroom20.com,2009-01-13:649749:BlogPost:2616742009-01-13T16:31:54.000ZDave Evelandhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/DaveEveland
So I've been thinking about life - well life and how I reflect on it, and one of the ways that helps me to reflect is writing.<br />
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I specifically want to become better - more consistent at posting what I discover and think about - esp. with regard to technology.<br />
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My undergraduate studies stated that learners retain and think more clearly when done based on periods of metacognitive thought - that is thinking about thinking, and in this case, me thinking about my own thinking.<br />
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Being a reflective…
So I've been thinking about life - well life and how I reflect on it, and one of the ways that helps me to reflect is writing.<br />
<br />
I specifically want to become better - more consistent at posting what I discover and think about - esp. with regard to technology.<br />
<br />
My undergraduate studies stated that learners retain and think more clearly when done based on periods of metacognitive thought - that is thinking about thinking, and in this case, me thinking about my own thinking.<br />
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Being a reflective learner will help me to clarify and categorize things I see and learn about, and in this blog specifically - about technology and how teachers can make use of it in their classrooms and professional lives.