PLN….an Information User’s Best Friend!

Part 1: After examining the PLN/PLE diagrams, I found I really resonated with one in particular and that was Scott Leslie’s.  Right away the visuals of his submission caught my eye.  His PLN reminded me of those old test patterns you used to see on television.  The layout and how he incorporated color into his PLN were visually appealing to me.  Beyond that, I like how he incorporated a “trustworthy” section into the PLN.  Not only did he identify, what he determined to be as trustworthy internet sights, but also included personal friend’s blogs he deemed as trustworthy.  I would describe Scott’s PLN as hybrid, as he included a mixture of the various types of PLNs whether tool based, action based, etc.  This is another reason Scott’s PLN garnered my attention.  I personally feel if you are going to create a PLN it should include all sources both “professional” and “personal” from which you gather information.  This is why I chose to create a hybrid PLN for myself. 

Part 2: When I created my PLN, there were 3 basic ideas I was keeping in mind: 1.) creativity 2.) my students 3.) personal appeal.  Admittedly, I do not see myself as a creative individual.  As such, I saw an opportunity with this assignment to stretch my creative muscles more so then other assignments.  Awhile back I had heard about this program called Wordle. However, I did not pay it much attention as I did not see a real need for it. That is until this assignment presented itself.  For those of you that do not know, Wordle is a free program that creates a “word diagram” based on words inputted by the user.  Wordle then takes these words and jumbles them around in an artistic display.  The user then has the option of altering the design though color, font, vertical v. horizontal layout, and other design elements. This won’t make you Picasso, but it is a step in the creative direction. The second thing I kept in mind was how would my students respond to an assignment like this if I presented it in class.  As we are all aware, although are students are digital natives, they may not be as tech savvy as we would like to believe.  I thought an assignment like this might be off-putting to some of them trying to create a diagram using the computer.  I thought of Wordle as a viable alternative to a program like Prezi for example.  Wordle is incredibly easy to use and the end product always looks great.  More importantly, and perhaps a little unconventional when speaking about diagrams,  I feel this is a viable option that fits well within the spirit and scope of this assignment. Additionally, I wanted this assignment to be something I could really get into.  After all this is a PERSONAL learning network, so it should hold special meaning to the individual creating it.  I needed my PLN to be something I could look at, not only for information, but also to give me a feeling of why these sources and resources are important to me.  Lastly, if you have not used Wordle, it is quite the fun program and, in my opinion, you can create a piece of art worthy to hang on the wall!

 

I know this is rather small so I have included the link to my PLN on line:

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/4333896/johns220-PLN

Cursive is a Bad Word…..in Education?

http://youtu.be/yOhkGmivOQg
(This video was unable to be embedded. It is a local ABC affiliate news cast reporting about the omission of cursive handwriting in the new Common Core standards.)

“Cursive handwriting has been omitted from the Common Core State Standards, the new curriculum standard that more than 40 states adopted last summer, the Associated Press reports.”
(retrieved from http://www.parentdish.com/2011/01/21/cursive-handwriting/ )

Is cursive the Sanskrit of the Language Arts world?  I find this to be a fascinating topic.  This is not so much that cursive may be hanging on by a pencil lead, but what it could mean for other “cornerstones” of traditional education……..print anyone?  From a personal standpoint, I could not be happier to see cursive go by the wayside.  I truly only use it to sign my name….okay, okay…..when I write, it would most accurately be called a hybrid of print and cursive.  But, it doesn’t look pretty when I focus strictly on the cursive (i.e. signing my name).  Also, I had more issues with my teacher in 3rd or 4th grade based on how I made my letters…..they were NEVER slanty enough….and the fact that was a “concerning issue” is mind-boggling to me. 

Personal vendetta aside, I am not sure if I should be overly concerned about the loss of cursive from the Common Core standards, or if it IS a big deal.  On one hand, I believe there are other forms of communication (printing for example) that are perfectly acceptable and deserve their time in academia.  On the other hand, if cursive is cut, does that mean printing is next.  That would be of great concern to me? And, if I had a third hand, I would talk about how I sorta/kinda believe keyboarding is somewhat more important than both printing and cursive combined, in my opinion, and in this digital day and age. 

I know over the last couple of years I have gone days without picking up a pen to write or even print something. But I cannot, for the life of me, recall one day that I did not find myself at a keyboard whether on a laptop or even on my phone.  This debate is further complicated for me by the fact I have two (soon to be a third) children in elementary school learning these exact practices.  At this point, I would feel my children were illiterate if they could not write/print (whatever you call it these days) their name.  But, at the same time, if they are going to be in front of a computer for the rest of their lives, wouldn’t keyboarding be a better skill to be learning?  I dunno.

I know I haven’t come to a solid conclusion for myself, so how could anyone make that decision for an entire school, district, state, etc?  I guess the whole computer argument is truly moot until computers are as readily available and cheap as pens and pencils.

M.I.T. for FREE!

This is what the internet is all about!

 

How amazing is it that anyone with internet access can take courses through M.I.T. That’s THE Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the most prestigious institutions of higher education in this country. Yet, anyone of us can take classes for FREE online.  In 2010, 16,632 candidates submitted final applications for the freshman class, and 1,676 (10.1 percent) were offered admission.                                                                            ( retrieved from: http://web.mit.edu/facts/tuition.html)

Let’s say you happened to be one of those in the top 10% of applicants, what then?  How are you going to pay the staggering tuition and boarding fees?  According to the following, you would be looking at $39,212 in tuition, plus $11,234 for your room and board, and an estimated $2,764 in books and personal expenses.  This comes to a one year total of $53,210, and upwards of $213,000 to complete a 4 year program. 

( retrieved from: http://web.mit.edu/facts/tuition.html)

However, through the internet and the efforts of some forward-thinking individuals, you can receive this content free of charge.  Of course, in the end, you will not end up with lambskin.  But, you will be privy to the same content, ideas, and information that only .0007% of the population (accepted freshmen 2010/U.S. population) get to experience in person……and did I mention….it’s FREE!

This is truly the power of the internet.  Anyone who has a yearning, not to just attend M.I.T., but learn and gain knowledge of any topic has that ability at their fingertips through the world wide web.  Other elite schools also offer content online through YouTube and online courses.  If you have the desire to learn about it, you can!

Curation Nation!

According to Wikipedia, “Digital curation is generally referred to the process of establishing and developing long-term repositories of digital assets for current and future reference by researchers, scientists, historians, and scholars. Enterprises are starting to utilize digital curation to improve the quality of information and data within their operational and strategic processes.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_curation)

The following video features further explanation and an interesting analogy of curation given by Robin Good.

 

Quite simply, curation, is the act of sifting through, the collecting of, and repurposing of information.  There are many sites available for use by all internet users to expedite this process.  Use of curation sites allow the user to establish a set of parameters for which the site will search for content.  This saves time in that the user no longer has to find the topics they are interested in among the seemingly endless amounts of information available.  The site does this for them.  Sites like Paper.li, Tweeted Times, and Scoop.it are 3 popular curation sites, and will be the discussion of the remainder of this post.

• What’s your opinion of curation?

This has been my first experience with curation.  Right away I could see the value of these sites. From a research standpoint, curation is a great vehicle to find information for your research topic (rather you set the parameters and let the site find it for you).  This could also be useful for keeping up on topics that interest you on a personal level.  Not many people I know have the time to sift through all the information available on the internet to research or keep up with trends.  However, with the use of a few keywords or tags, the curation sites do much of the work for you.

• Does curation as seen in Tweeted Times and Paper.li narrow your view or expand it?

I believe curation sites narrow your search. Based on the criteria you ask it to search for, the site returns those specific results.  However, it also seems that some of the results returned may not be exactly what was requested.  This could lead to an additional query not originally intended and therefore lead to a new path of discovery.  Ultimately, it depends on how you want to use the results.   Are you going to ignore the results that do not ideally fit or original parameter?  Or, do use the “misfit” results to lead your reasearch/interests in a new direction?

• How could these tools be valuable to you and/or your students?

As mentioned previously, I feel these sites are useful tools for conducting research on both a professional and personal level.  I imagine for my students, as it sometimes is for me, trying to keep up with and find the information you are interested in can become quite tedious and sometimes frustrating.  Letting the sites do a good portion of the work for you saves time and helps make the process a little less monotonous.

• What disadvantages if any do you see to these tools?

I feel some of what I had just praised these tools for, can also be a negative.  If you allow the sites to do all the searching for you, you could miss out on some valuable information your parameters did not catch.  In essence they can make you lazy.  As technology continues to integrate into every aspect of our daily lives, we need to be vigilant that we do not become utterly dependant on them.  Technology is a very valuable tool capable of many things, but we mustn’t ever relinquish our control over it and ourselves.  A hammer is a powerful tool as well, but it cannot drive a nail on its own.

• How do tools like this compare to RSS feeds?

These tools are similar in that, they send the user information based on a set of given criteria.  However, they are different in how that information is gathered.  With an RSS feed, the user finds the information they are interested in and then subscribes to that information and as it is updated so is the user.  However, the user is limited to that specific “line of information”.  With curation, the set parameters determine the information received, but that information is pulled from multiple sources.

• How do the two tools, Tweeted Times and Paper.li, compare? Which do you prefer? Why?

I have been using each of these less than two weeks, so I do not feel I can give an accurate opinion of either site.  I like the “newspaper” feel with each of them.   Our school used to supply us with several hard copies of the local newspaper. However, due to budget cuts, that was one “luxury” we could not afford to keep.  Although, we can view those articles online, it is just not the same.  With these two sites the layout looks more newspaper-like and has more of that newspaper feeling.  If I had to give my opinion today, the edge would go to the Tweeted Times for simple fact it will encourage me to use my Twitter account more often.

Web 2.0 Learning Tool

http://raselearning.org/course/view.php?id=4 

 

Here is the link to my Web 2.0 learning tool.

 

I chose to use Moodle as I feel its versatility demonstrates the key attributes associated with Web 2.0 tools: diversity, creation, sharing, and collaboration.  Moodle provides a simple platform from which a plethora of learning tools, and even entire academic courses, can be created. 

 

Creating content in Moodle is quite easy. Applications are selected from drop-down menus.  The user simply decides what kinds of content they wish to add, and then picks the corresponding item from the menu.  Simple text pages, web pages, and links are commonly used as most content can be added to these.  Lessons, quizzes, and the glossary are additional activities that can be added to Moodle, but do require some additional practice to use effectively.  I have chosen to share the English course.  Although, it is not complete, it does demonstrate some of these more advanced features.  In the interest of time, I suggest some specific activities that demonstrate some of these features:

-Plot: “The Interlopers” by Saki (this is a lesson which requires an answer before the user can proceed, can be used to show comprehension)

-Point of View Lesson (this is an embedded power point retrieved from SlideShare)

-Culminating Assignment: Understanding Elements of Fiction (an example of an assignment created in Moodle)

 

This course has a three-fold purpose.  It is being designed as an instructional tool to be used in conjunction with the instructor’s class lecture, it can also be used as a single credit course to help student retain class status, and it can be used for those students who maybe homebound due to illness, pregnancy, or for other reasons.  This course is also being written based on the new Common Core standards for English that the state of Illinois has adopted for its high school curriculum.  This gives students the opportunity to have extra practice in their regular classes or stay caught up on credits missed using the most up to date standards as mandated by the state. 

 

Although Moodle itself, is free software, it does require server space in order to host content.  Most school districts have servers in which they could host content provided by Moodle.  In our case, we have hired a third-party vendor to host our Moodle courses for us.  Our server simply could not handle the extra usage associated with this type of access.  This service also provides technical support that could be a drain on our tech department, which consists of one person who also teaches at the school.

 

Moodle can also self assess students.  Quizzes, and lessons created in Moodle are automatically scored for accuracy.  If responses require more than a true/false or multiple choice type answer, a student can imput an answer in a word processing text block.  An instructor could then go back and evaluate the student’s responses and assign the appropriate grade in the gradebook provided in Moodle.

 

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2025 An Education Odyessy

How can anyone accurately predict the state of education 15 years from now?  I cannot even predict what my personal life will be like, let alone, the educational system of the entire country….or even the world.  But, this gives me a good place to start.  I believe education will become more global.  Dropping as far as the U.S. has in education, it would be egocentric to assume we would continue to function in isolation.  Rather we should embrace all world markets, many of which consistently produce a better product than our own (educationally speaking in this instance).  We can look to EPSY 556 to see this in action already.  Our diversity brings new and innovative ways of preparing curriculum, designing of learning spaces, and how we deal with our learning population and their needs in ways we could never imagine on our own.  We represent many varied and diverse backgrounds all striving for the same goal…..improving education through the use of technology. 

Ah technology!  Well that will certainly be different in the classroom of 2025…..at least the amount of technology utilized will be.  I imagine a climate where at least 50% of students will utilize some form of technology to access web content on a daily basis.  And, I feel it would be realistic to envision as much as 25% of the learner population receiving a majority of their course work through some form of technology.   This will change the way classrooms and learning centers (the term school will become obsolete) will look.  Classrooms will be designed as multi-media interfaces in which learners will be able to access information freely.  I believe this has always been the underlying purpose of the formal education system, however until recently it has been a difficult task to provide learners the means to access all available knowledge.  Even today we have the tools and ability to access this information and it will become cheaper and more readily available to more and more people. 

These changes will be the direct result of shrinking dollars to fund schools and in an effort for the U.S. to try to regain its competitive edge with many other countries of the word in terms of their educational status.  Smaller budgets will force schools to end arts/humanities programs, sports, and extracurricular activities.  Some of these programs will find a niche in the private sector. Sports programs especially will become private enterprises as athletics become more and more competitive and more highly specialized.  These changes will, in turn, lead to shorter school days to save money as students will not need to occupy the building as long as less and less courses are offered.  Thus costing less to maintain buildings.   

With all the inevitable change, some things will remain.  The most important…teachers!  We might change their title to something like learning facilitator, mentor, or learner guide, but their essential training, duties, and passion for their profession will remain.  Our educational leaders of 2025 will need to be proficient in their use of technology.  It would be short-sided to say the educator in the space has to be the consummate technology expert, but they will need to be proficient in its use and be able to adapt their teaching styles to incorporate technology effectively.  This is not to say that teachers are ineffective without technology, only that they will need to hone their technology skills if they wish to stay competitive with their peers.  This should yield higher pay for education professionals as the U.S. tries to regain their educational status.  I believe we will see a “call to action” for the best and brightest we have to offer to become educators.  Incentives to attend college to become educators will increase.  Also, training current teachers to stay knowledgable in emerging technologies will be a focus.  In turn, salaries will increase to attract those people who follow monies into other professions.

I did try to avoid researching what the “experts” had to say on the subject.  I wanted this post to be completely my own and not influenced by another’s vision of the future.  So there is no hard data, facts, or figures to support my vision.  Rather this was just me putting my own personal thoughts to “paper”.

We’ll always….

In the two classes I took this summer, a large portion of the course was devoted to discussion about how we can justify the use of technology in the classroom.  Does technology enhance the learning environment, do students need to know how to use technology, have we become to dependant on technology, and how will it change what students need to learn, are some questions that were the focus of a lot of conversation.  We looked at how the incorporation of technology will change the way we educate and the way our students will learn.  For the most part we agreed the use of technology is necessary in education if we are to “keep up” with society and prepare our students to be productive citizens in this digital age. 

The question was raised in our last discussion in one of the courses, “what DO people need to carry around in their heads? What knowledge, skills, and capabilities ARE essential today? How should this change the way we think about the curriculum at all levels of learning?”.  Many of the participants said reading, writing, and basic math skills were still those essential skills we need to know and teach our students. I basically agreed.  I also discussed the need to know how to manipulate, troubleshoot, and repair the technology.  This raised a little discussion in agreement, but nothing really substantial.  But some of the discussion suggested we do not need to know as much as we did before because the technology can essentially do it for us and we can find most anything we would need to know via the internet.  So, there was some debate, but mostly the consensus was that a combination of technology and essential skill is the optimum mode of operation as we move forward with technology.  I was watching some pre-season football and an iPad 2 commercial came on that, I feel, really puts this discussion into perspective.

We don’t need to lose any of those essential skills we’ve been taught and have taught, we just need to apply them in a new way….We’ll always…..