Linking Us All Together

I just posted my first comment on someone else's blog. The following is my comment:

TAG! You’re It!

T: Tell something you like.

I like the enthusiasm for the potential of using blogs in the classroom. I also like that I share a similar level of experience with blogging. It makes me feel more secure in starting my own journey in implementing technology in the classroom.

A: Ask a question.

What are some teaching strategies that you could use to keep students focused so that they do not spend the precious class time surfing the net or chatting? How could you structure “computer time”?

G: Give a suggestion.

I find it difficult to suggest an area for improvement. I might suggest a long term goal to revisit this blog once you have taught for a while to see how or if your philosophies on implementing technology have changed.

Now that I have piqued your curiosity, check out the blog.

The Good, the Blog, and the Ugly: Technology Integration and the Classroom

Technology is changing. Technology is changing us. Technology is here to stay.

With technology experts predicting that 2045 marks the date for “a profound and disruptive transformation in human capability . . . [where] . . . nonbiological intelligence created in that year will be one billion times more powerful that all human intelligence today.”(1), who can argue?

Furthermore, access to inexpensive computers, via the One Laptop Per Child initiative, coupled with the ever-penetrating communication infrastructure ready for the propagation of a truly world-wide World Wide Web, may mean that we will be living on a “Flat Earth.” Stand aside Harold Innis Harold Innis , look out Marshall McLuhan Marshall McLuhan , space and time in the global village will never be the same.

But wait. What happened when we switched from the slide rule to the calculator? Or made the transition from quill pens and ink wells to ballpoint pens? Or gained access to inexpensive, mass-produced paper? Or even turned on an overhead projector for the first time? Just because these items seem commonplace now does not mean that they did not represent some sort of technological epoch. Would it be wrong for me to argue that some form of technology has always existed in the classroom and that developments in technology are not new?

Is it really a quantum leap from the overhead projector to the interactive whiteboard and the PowerPoint presentation? I do not think it is especially if the teacher is unable to use the new medium effectively in order to engage the students and enhance the lesson. For example, Mr X teaches from a PowerPoint presentation, using print as well as photos and figures to reach the visual learners. If he just lectures from his presentation, he may as well use an overhead projector. Ms Y, in the next room, is using the overhead. Yet, her students are formed into two teams with each team at the front of the class and on either side of the screen. Each team possesses one fly swatter. The answers to Ms Y’s questions are projected on the screen. The members with the swatter are poised and ready to swat the correct answer to Ms Y’s questions. In my opinion the class playing Swat is more engaged in the learning process.

Sure the Internet is a wealth of knowledge, but the abundance of information could be a detriment to the students. Ms Y instructs her students to research the Internet for information on the life cycle of newts. Her students Google (it is interesting how that has become a verb) life cycle of newts and spend the rest of the class sifting through a potential 700,000 or so sites. Clearly, time could be better spent. Mr X’s students are studying toads. His students also search the Web. Yet Mr X is more specific and asks for information from three sites, one government of Canada site, one site from another grade school, and one site from the United States. For his younger students, Mr X already has three sites chosen for his students and simply provides the URLs, a strategy known as Webquest. The Internet can also be wealth of things children should not see at school, or ever for that matter. Webquests can protect students from visiting unwanted sites.

It would be easy to continue with a shopping list of good and bad examples of technology integration. I have not even mentioned the potential for audio media. But I think I have said enough. However, I would like to conclude by commenting on barriers for technology integration. I think that main barrier for effective integration is the mindset that since technology is there we should use it. I believe this mindset creates a purblind perception of technology in which the understanding of effective teaching is lost. An understanding of how to teach should be established first and then, almost contemporaneously, an understanding of the tools used to teach, in this case technology, should be developed. In this way, the priority is placed on effective teaching teamed, hopefully, with a respect for the potential possibilities for technology integration. How do we overcome this barrier? What I am doing is trying to take full advantage of our Com Tech course. What will you do?

First Blog Entry Ever . . . For me that is.

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,--
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

--From Macbeth (IV, i, 14-15)

I would like to clear up any misconceptions right off the bat. I am not a devote Shakespeare fan. Yet, my travels have led me to Stratford-upon-Avon where I toured the home in which Shakespeare was born. I do not portend any mystical second coming. And the only magic I believe in is that which we create ourselves.

Before I speed off ahead of myself, I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself. My name is David Relkoff. Some people call me Dave. I prefer David, but, at the end of the day, it does not really matter. I hail from the small town of Cranbrook, British Columbia. My parents and younger brother still call Cranbrook home. My older sister resides in the funky city that is Montreal. Yes, I am a middle child.

After a welcome graduation from high school and a couple years at the local community college, I ventured to Atlantic Canada, where I graduated with a BA in History, English minor, from Dalhousie. Stories from my days in Nova Scotia will have to wait for another day. Without a set direction, I worked for a year and applied for grad school. The prairies were on the horizon for me. I called Winnipeg home while I pursued an MA in History with a minor in rock climbing. Climbing on the prairies! What? Winnipeg has the fortune of being close to Ontario and the Canadian Shield, the largest exposed mass of granite in the world. Since I have yet to visit Yosemite, Squamish, Indian Creek, the Verdon Gorge, (I have climbed in the Alps, but again I am getting ahead of myself) please do not take it from me that Canadian granite is some of the best rock in the world.

During my time as a grad student, I started working with children. Working with children changed my life. For the better? That has yet to be seen. Stuck with a Masters and uncertain as to whether I really wanted to work with children for the rest of my life, I sought employment at summer camps, outdoor education centres, and as a ski instructor, anything that would put me on the front line with children. In that time, I have worked in Ontario, BC, and Switzerland. Yes, I am a traveler. I am also a skier through and through. Skiing is more than a sport for me. It is a way of life.

Currently, the prairies are home yet again and I am at the University of Lethbridge, pursuing a BEd. I just keep telling myself that the wind is a good thing. I look at it as a alternative energy source.

In life people adopt many roles and titles. To bring magic to the campers at the outdoor education centres, we staff take on nature names. Newt is my nature name. The eye in 'Eye of Newt' is therefore my eye. Through this blog you will have the opportunity to see through my eyes.

Since I am striding down the path to becoming a teacher, I am also on a mission to acquire a liberal amount of technical savvy. First step: write a blog. Check.

Now, how can blogs work in the classroom? Simply put, I think that the use of blogs in the classroom is only limited to the creativity of the teacher, with some exceptions that I would like to discuss later.

In this day and age, we are confronted with an ever-quickening access to an overabundance of information. How do we sift through it all? Critical research skills are a necessity. Researching blogs for content and veracity would be a use assignment. The assignment would extend beyond the basic skills required to navigate websites and, instead challenge students to question the content of the sources. The online sources could be compared to print sources as well. The goal would be to develop the critical literacy skills of the students.

The potential for exploring the dissemination of knowledge also abound. Mainstream media, be it TV or newspapers, present one view of a story or may fail to report on an event entirely. Blogs can provide alternate opinions or draw attention to important events that are neglected by mainstream media. Students would still require to read these critically. Touching on this could spark an assignment on censorship. Thinking as a Social Studies major, I could link this to historical periods during which people were subject to totalitarian regimes and censorship. Soviet Russia springs into my mind right away.

In terms of writing, blogs can work as a forum for student discussion. Students may be more likely to share through a posting than talking in front of the class. Stronger students may also be asked, or take upon themselves, to provide assistance to students who may be struggling with either the content of the assignment or the mechanics of literacy. Teachers could also post to individual students to provide feedback and assistance. I still think there are merits in grand discussions in the classroom. For one, in class communication is more immediate. There is not that lag time of waiting for someone to post a point and for someone to read that point and then post his or her point. But if no one is willing to talk in class, then the discussion would not be successful anyway.

One thing that concerns me about blogs is the ease and immediacy with which information can be posted on blogs. For example, Mr. X uses his PDA to record a fatal car crash and its aftermath. He posts the event on his blog minutes later. This blog could reach the family members of the victim(s) before the proper authorities had time to contact them.

Speaking of the ease and immediacy of posting information on blogs, part of me fears that this could turn into a form of public surveillance. Do not get me wrong, it can also be used to hold people accountable for their actions. Yet, at the same time, it only reflects one view and people should have a chance to defend themselves. Taken to an extreme, though I feel uncomfortable with the thought of this public surveillance. How could my paranoia benefit me in the classroom? This could lead into a unit on George Orwell's 1984.

One of my last concerns about blogging pertains to accessibility. Blogging requires basic literacy skills. What if students are still struggling with reading and writing? As well, blogs can be accessed at any time from anywhere. Any time and any where there is a computer with Internet access. Some students do not have access to this technology at home and I would not be surprised if some schools did not possess the necessary technology as well.

Regardless of how we use blogs in the classroom, I think that it is necessary to keep in mind that they are just one tool of many.