MLK Jr. Celebration of Diversity

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

ilearning: embrace the shift from paper to pixel

I recently read Listen to the Natives by Marc Prensky and while what he is telling us in this article is not entirely new to me, I took away some ideas about teaching that I consider quite valuable.

Initially I tried to evaluate where I am with technology based learning. I feel as though I stand somewhere between what he calls "digital native" and "digital immigrant". As he describes, I often rather jump right into using a new program or technological "toy" as a means to learn its function though in some cases this can become over whelming and I'll seek the advice of a neatly printed manual for assistance. While reading the instructions for a new phone, computer, camera, or game system is a rarity, I'm reluctant to toss any form of instructions should I fail to master the gadget purely through immersion. I doubt that I'm as intensely fluent in today's technology as I know my younger siblings in jr. high and high school are, but I'm not nearly as much of an outsider as Prensky assumes most educators and administrators are today. (Of course with the date of publication being a few years old (2006) and the rate at which technology is moving, it is very possible that much of what he was writing then is becoming or already is outdated.)

Something Prensky stated that I found particularly interesting had nothing at all to do with technology. It is actually a teaching skill void of technology and yet he felt it important to mention as he discussed where teaching and learning should be headed. These are the concepts and practices of empathy and guidance. In a world where the curriculum is able to change by the hour, an educator must truly serve as a facilitator who understands how to guide students and show compassion, two things the computers in a classroom will not and cannot do.

Beyond the point about empathy, I felt that Prensky's view on how students need to become more involved in making classroom decisions was right on target. Students now have a different understanding of how interactive the world can be. They go online and contribute to whats on the web but are faced with a very different set of rules in the classroom. Some of the traditional standards of teacher and student need to evolve and acknowledge the new awareness students are developing at earlier and earlier stages in education.

From my own experience, my 13 and 16 year old sisters will simply pick up a laptop and Google any piece of information they don't know when having a conversation with someone at home. That just shows that students today want to learn and are actively seeking out the knowledge they crave. Educators need to make better use of these instincts about technology. A good start would be jumping into it and potentially asking the students for help, after all they are native to this developing realm of education.

Power-Pointaphobia

I must admit right now that I have always been a little afraid of power-point. Its not that I can't create one that's the problem, I'm comfortable with the technology and I'm usually confident with the material I'm covering as well. It really has a lot more to do with the fact that I know just how easily I become enchanted by the flashy transitions and array of color schemes, often forgetting what the real focus and purpose of the presentation is.

My solution has been to avoid them. I often play with the transitions early in my presentation planning, tempted to create a simply marvelous eye-popping display, only to come to my senses and recognize what I've created as an over the top slide show of what power point can do to distract from one's message. And that is when I simply hit delete and opt for a low-tech poster, handouts, chalkboard notes, or just plain me behind a podium.

This is exactly what Jamie McKenzie describes in Scoring Power Points, his look at how power-points fail and what changes we can make to them to create a success out of a dud. His solutions unlike mine don't result in throwing in the towel but rather re-evaluating the tool. If we look at creating the presentation as a mere 20% of the overall project and put the bulk of the work into the research portion we're apt to be prepared with more informational substance beyond the visuals that serve to complement and enhance our message.

The key is in first creating a great presentation that can stand alone. If the data you've gathered is interesting, if you know the topic well, if you have practiced your vocal delivery, and are prepared to engage your audience then you are ready to add the multimedia aspect of your presentation or speech.

We've all seen the bad presentations filled with too many words or boring images and seen the struggling presenter reading their speech from each slide. Students themselves are probably quite familiar with the pointlessness that can result from such presentations. If you asked a classroom of high school sophomores what they thought of the term power-pointlessness I'm sure many of them would consider it an accurate description of many of the presentations they've seen by teachers and fellow classmates alike. If as educators we wish to change our students opinions on such presentations we must begin by modeling what a good multimedia presentation is and provide them with the remaining standards on which to base their own work.

McKenzie suggests that through our modeling of quality presentations, creation of criteria for student presentations, emphasis of content and critical thinking, concern for accurate and attractive design, and expectation of engaging speech presentation that is delivered and not read, we can once again find the point of power-points.

Thinking Critically

Helping students develop and expand upon critical thinking skills is a goal every teacher shares. Using technology that captures your students attention is a great resource in achieving this goal!

WebQuests can serve to develop such skills using the internet. As a teacher you can guide the students to relevant search engines and helpful websites where they can read and gather information related to their assignment. After they have gathered the basic information, students have the ability to think creatively about ways to share what they've learned using online resources.

Putting together a class blog where students post updates to projects and comment on each others work shows their ability to understand and analyze information while picking up new perspectives from classmates.

Consider following up the WebQuest with interactive presentations using PowerPoint and interesting links and videos students may have found online. With a longer WebQuest and older students, the class may even be able to create and upload videos of their own onto the web that creatively display what they've discovered along the way.

These quests can be reused in following years. If you plan to reuse a WebQuest make sure to check links, update information, and take into account areas that went well or needed some additional attention during the previous quest. Your students may not thank you for the working links and relevant updated application of the WebQuest but they will undoubtedly point out bad links or dated info and commentary.

Multiple Learning Styles

I was curious about my learning styles after our last class so I clicked on the link in Moodle to take the short quiz related to finding out which styles best suit you.

I was really surprised to discover I tied for first place in two areas. They were interpersonal and intrapersonal... which actually are opposite styles. I could see however after reading about them that I do in fact like using both styles at different times and I don't think I ever highly favor one over the other. My second place was the obvious choice for an English enthusiast... verbal-linguistic, which I expected as my top score actually.

You should take the quiz for yourself here and let me know if you too were surprised or not.

Our future students will also have many surprising combinations of learning styles. I think older students could benefit from figuring those out through class activities and reflecting on how projects and lessons can be adapted or enhanced to provide them with more learning opportunities.

Introductions

About Me

My name is Kate. I have a BA in English from Augustana College in Rock Island, IL. I also studied art and sociology in school... I would have added even more subjects as minors but my time was limited to four years and so were my funds.

I grew up wanting to become a teacher some day even though I didn't express it as a career goal until recently. I've always viewed being a teacher as an aspect of one's personality and their approach to others, not just a profession.

In some ways I think I naturally teach. I encourage children to find and use their own creativity in my role as an arts & crafts teacher at my church. I question my sister's choice of logic as she studies her algebra homework and listen as she explains why she chose to solve a problem a certain way. I also make myself available to friends and my other younger siblings should they want help reviewing a graduate school application essay or a high school research paper. I enjoy these things. I am made happy in the "aha!" moment of others and am always content with having ventured a try at reaching it.

Technology and Me

I am comfortable with technology in that I use it everyday. I check e-mail in an almost compulsive way, it has become my preferred method of quick communication as I can seamlessly access it throughout the day without interruption to my workflow.

I spend at least 9 hours a day on a computer. I work as a graphic designer and often serve as the guinea pig for the company programmer who has me test the usefulness of his latest programming on a weekly basis. I do not have any understanding of the programs he creates from a technical standpoint but I do have experience in pushing his creations to the limit. Most of my computer knowledge relates to graphic arts however. I use design software regularly to create and modify artwork for my company. Scanners, printers, faxes, disc burners, and digital cameras are all daily job related tools I'm comfortable with.

I, however, do not always have the best relationship with technology. I'm actually quite intimidated by using technology in presentations and get anxious about it malfunctioning and drawing more attention to my lack of knowledge rather than the knowledge I'd intended to share. This is really more of a problem that calls for practice with different technology in order to build up a comfort level. It is my hope that I will be able to gain some of that experience in this class, at least enough to create an appealing power point for my next presentation!