It “adjusts to the skills of each student by programming questions in response to” performance. It is US-based and so assumedly follows the US curriculum. It is just an example – maybe useful for revision activities before exam time.
I have looked at a few other blog sites that Dr Bell recommended and I now realise that we should categorise our posts if we are going to keep adding for years or the blog becomes unmanageable – 15 pages of uncategorised blogs. Weblogg-ed is catalogued and it puts a list of categories with the number of blogs relating to the category on the side bar. You can filter by category.
I found out about Geocaching in an article called Geocaching for Fun and Learning by Mary Alice Anderson (a US media specialist and online educator) in Multimedia & Internet Schools magazine Vol 15(2) 2008.
Geocaching.com and other geocache websites enable people around the world to participate in VERY active learning. A Geocache can come in many forms – it may be:
a hidden box containing a log book (that you sign when you find it) and a trinket (that you may keep and replace with another)
a virtual cache – a real place, landmark or just a plaque of historical or other interest,
a microcache – tiny the size of a film cannister
a multicache – where one has clues to find the next
It can be a learning exercise to find a cache and there may be an exercise contained in the cache. This could be used in any KLA. You can create geocaches yourself and register them.
Just enter your postcode on the website to find geocaches near you. At Geocaching.com I can see one in the next suburb to where I live. The cache has details like how much time you need to spend at the site. You put the cache’s co-ordinates into a GPS unit and hone in. This is the only hitch – a GPS unit is a requirement.
Teachers could set up a multicache for an excursion that included learning about your KLA and have some rewards hidden in them. For Maths, students will learn about map skills, topography and longitude and latitude.
You could even set up a quest for geocaches involving a few local schools just to add some interest.
I followed Chris Betcher’s blog (address is on the UTS Online Digital Learning Staff bubble) and got to Danny Nicholson’s blog.
I have attached a slideshow about Blogging in Schools – he has some very valid points about using blogging with your classes. There are some guidelines about not displaying any personal information, using first names only, etc. and examples for blog use eg. Journals, school trip logs.
I just read Margaret’s comments on Truly, Madly, Deeply Engaged. This article references the “My Media” generation. “My Media” meaning that this generation tailor what media they receive including what advertisements. Some of us are doing this already – tailoring our view of the internet and subscribing to blog updates that are pertinent to our interests.
Margaret is concerned that it is difficult to keep tabs of what our 13-year olds are exposed to if advertising targets personalised media devices such as PDAs and mobile phones. I agree but was encouraged to see that research (page 26) has shown that the “youth in mature online markets” are the ones least to want to receive advertising on personal devices such as PDAs, mobile phones and MP3 players. This particularly applies to the youth in US and China, whereas other countries, such as India, where personal media is newer, are less critical about the value of advertisements on their personal media.
The other encouraging thing is that you can now avoid advertising if you want. TiVo can record movies and remove all advertisements but apparently Australia is disabling this feature!
I know that children find advertisments entertaining and useful in showing them what is newly available. My son loves the Jumping Jax advertisement.
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The Media Revolution showing us becoming “prosumers” (producers and consumers of information). This is an interesting prediction about the future of media from now to 2051! Have a look!
Dr Geoff Romeo talks, like Papert, about using technology as the tool or scaffold. He thinks that the teachers who originally encountered technology in the classroom did a great job. However, today and tomorrow’s teachers need to do a lot of work to get it right.
I think one thing that is vital is that schools. like business, need an IT strategy. This should be at State Government level. This should not drive the core business of teaching & learning but should support it. School equipment is often out-dated and poorly maintained. If teachers want to use a particular technology tool they should have IT support to ensure it is available and working for all students and not have to waste valuable time sorting out start-up issues. There has to be a planned yet flexible approach. In many state schools, IT support is a secondary responsibility of a full-time teacher. When they can’t fix the problem sometimes schools must wait for days or a week before a Department IT person attends.
If we want technology use to be seemless, productive and enjoyable then teachers need support. They also need ongoing training (not just pre-teacher training). They have daily planning for up to 5 lessons a day and this must be combined with keeping up-to-date with new technology. It must be made easier and more accessible for teachers.
He really is a very persuasive speaker – “appealingly” logical. He is a mathematician, the developer of the computer language LOGO, a key figure in “Constructionism” (he worked with Piaget).
He asked controversially in 1990 – “We don’t have conferences on the use of paper and education, so why do we have conferences on computers and education?”, and is still explaining this valid question today.
I agree totally with his dilemma about the two sides of thought:
1. What will education be like in 20 years? (Visionary view) VS.
2. But what shall I teach on Monday morning? (Practical View)
We feel this conflict in our BTeach – we don’t even know how to teach our KLA in the current fashion and now we are being asked to redesign the curriculum – a big task … but someone has to begin it and we are in a good position to have open minds. However we still have to get the students to pass the exam… there it is again!
He stresses that you mostly hear HOW we can use technology to teach the same Maths differently… when we need to rethink WHAT we are teaching. This also resonates with Green & Hannon “the mistake of trying to prepare children for today’s jobs” (a great quote).
I had not thought about the current emphasis on the “get information” aspect of computers at the expense of the “computers as construction” aspect. Education should be focussed on active learning rather than retrieving information. This is the heart of the problem of technology and education – by constructing with technology, students achieve “deep understanding” (rigorous thinking). Papert’s ideas help allay a common fear regarding technology and curriculum (see the comments page about SMH’s article “Phone a Friend: the exam revolution”).
He inspires me to look at how we can get students to understand Mathematics in a different way. This is what I hoped to achieve when I enrolled in this course. Practicum surprised me with the rigid, busy curriculum and what a rush it is to cover it – and how students are conditioned for direct instruction.
You just have to read the online comments on their blog to see how controversial this topic is.
I think it has pros and cons.
You should not have to memorise literature in order to answer exam questions. Is this the new “Open Book” exam?
What is the purpose of the exam? Are you trying to test whether the student has learnt what has been taught?
How do they manage the situation where everyone is in an exam room together and some are using phones – how do the students, who are thinking, concentrate with all the noise (or are Net Gen’s used to noise?)
How about students who cannot afford the technology (the Digital Divide, see earlier posts)? Would the school provide the technology for all?
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