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Michael Walker

techLEARNING.com | Technology & Learning - The Resource for Education Technology Leader... - 0 views

www.techlearning.com/...index.php

mobile learning environment education 1-to-1 Soloway Norris

shared by Michael Walker on 12 Dec 08 - Cached
  • If you go to a situation where the computers are one-to-one, where every child has a computer, be it a cell phone computer or a mini laptop computer, then all the learning activities, all the learning resources are on that device. It becomes the conduit then for the curriculum and for the artifacts the student creates. In some sense it does replace or certainly augments the paper and pencil materials. As Cathie pointed out earlier, the problem was that the computer was used as an add on. The major part of the lesson was still done on paper and there might be one activity that you did on the computer but that activity wasn't integrated with the rest of the pieces of paper. The computer wasn't playing an integral role to the lesson. But with one to one, it becomes possible for the computer to play an integral role. CN: Which is the way it is in business. Most business people do the majority of their work on their computer. Pencil and paper tends to be an aside or an add on for notes. When we start talking about teaching children 21st Century Skills, teaching them how to use the computer for the bulk of what they do is certainly a 21st Century Skill. ST: Certainly, so long as it's not just teaching the technical means to do a PowerPoint presentation or write a paper. It's about the critical thinking that goes on.
    • Michael Walker
      Michael Walker on 12 Dec 08
       
      I think this is the key! Remember the first day...Make the laptop disapear!
  • The teachers who are out of control when students have handhelds are the same teachers who are out of control when the students have pencils and paper. I was a classroom teacher for 15 years and back then the threat was that computers were going to come in and replace all teachers. All of the good teachers felt that any teacher who could be replaced by a computer should be. There is always room for and a place for good teachers. In this case the role of the teacher is different. It's not necessarily a role of handing out the information. You don't open up students' heads and dump in the information. Rather, teachers provide direction and contextualize things for students as they do their lessons. Students are not sitting there like little birds waiting to be fed. To create autonomous learners you must contextualize things for students as they find them or as they run into difficulties trying to fit pieces together because you've structured the lesson for them. ST: You're singing my song. One of the things we often say at our organization is that a child is not a vessel to be filled, but a flame to be kindled. What you're speaking to is how do you create that spark and engage that 21st Century Learner.
    • Michael Walker
      Michael Walker on 12 Dec 08
       
      Classroom management and teacher's role
  • Well that's true. One of the things that I worry about with Smart Boards is people are just porting all of their book based content into static PDFs to be displayed on Smart Boards. There's nothing engaging there about that solution. CN: Right. Children are simply watching something bigger. We were in Mexico and we saw that Mexico had adopted the Smart Boards in all the classrooms. At one meeting we attended, they demonstrated how they were going to be using the Smart Boards in the classroom. A teacher had a book opened, displayed on the Smart Board, going through the lessons with the book on the Smart Board. It was just a bigger book, the children are still being passive learners. They simply watched her as opposed to engaging with a technology that fits them, moving up and around, it's a completely different learning environment. ES: This was a very powerful learning experience for both of us. Here is a country trying to move into the 21st century. They were going to equip their classrooms with all these expensive, electronic whiteboards. All they were doing was the same thing that they had done with books in the past and that wasn't particularly interesting to the kids. Displaying the book a little bigger is not going have any impact whatsoever.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • We see a trajectory with this issue of one-to-one computing. The entire notion of one-to-one is going to change. The term is inappropriate. It's a dominant term now because it comes out of the laptop world. It still focuses on the technology as opposed to what the kids are going to do with the technology. I think over the next few years, the notion of one-to-one as a term will disappear. What's going to happen is that it will be a given that all the children will have a computing device. It probably is going to happen faster than most people think. Right now, a large percentage of schools in the United States, ban cell phones. But once this dam breaks, when schools see that kids are already bringing computers to school and schools don't have to pay for those computers, the light bulb within administrators will light up. Administrators will begin to notice that one child brings a Motorola, another brings a Nokia, and yet another brings an iPhone. The solution? You just put a layer of software on top of the phone that makes all those non-homogeneous devices homogeneous with respect to the teacher and the learning activities. Just like a Dell and a Sony and a Gateway. They're different computers. You put a layer of software on top of them and now they're all the same. That's the same idea that will happen in the cell phone computer world. And when this happens, we think it's going to happen very quickly. Not in five years, more like two to three years.
    • Michael Walker
      Michael Walker on 12 Dec 08
       
      A view of what the future may hold!
  • Michael Walker on 12 Dec 08
     
    Cathleen Norris and Eliot Soloway discuss issues with teaching in a one to one environment
Tess Bademan

Edina Technology Integration: One to One Learning Leadership Institute: Session 1 - 0 views

edinatech.blogspot.com/...dership-institute-session.html

shared by Tess Bademan on 06 Nov 08 - Cached
  • How different are today's classrooms from how they were 40 years ago?
    • Beth VonEschen
      Beth VonEschen on 06 Nov 08
       
      Society has changed at a much faster pace than most schools.
  • (Twitter blocked on the filter, but Facebook not!)
    • Heidi Degener
      Heidi Degener on 06 Nov 08
       
      What are the reasons that schools would not block Facebook if it is such a management issue?
    • Mary Elliott
      Mary Elliott on 06 Nov 08
       
      They want to be on the cutting edge, and maybe they have lots of tech support or not many students.
    • irmgard farah
      irmgard farah on 06 Nov 08
       
      It should depend on the different grade levels if facebook is blocked in school or not.
    • Michael Walker
      Michael Walker on 06 Nov 08
       
      Doug Johnson is a big believer that blocking Web content is a lot like banning books. He would rather teach kids proper use as opposed to say "You can't use it here."
  • As we look at education in the 21st century, we need to take these things into account.
    • Kris B.
      Kris B. on 06 Nov 08
       
      I agree, yet the method for accountability needs to change as well. Schools will respond to where the carrot or the stick is....right now that focus is on testing....the pendulum will need to swing more towards performance based assessment. What did MN learn from grad. standards of the 1990s? The grassroots of that movement came from the business community and addressed these exact issues...yet, education became bogged down with the accountability of it all.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Our learning environment must be innovative, where we create, distribute, access and collaborate with information.
    • margaret smith
      margaret smith on 06 Nov 08
       
      Our classrooms have changed so much in the last 15 years. It is hard to imagine what an innovative classroom will look like in the next 5 years.
    • Mel Padden
      Mel Padden on 06 Nov 08
       
      I agree, I think it is impossible to compehend!
  • Einstein-" Never memorize what you can look up in books"
    • Alison Anderson
      Alison Anderson on 06 Nov 08
       
      Hmmm...Interesting quote. With our technologies, can't we look up everything? Is there anything worth memorizing? This will radically change how we teach. Memorization is a time-saver in the long run. We'll need to consider what information we teach is "worthy of memorization".
    • Mel Padden
      Mel Padden on 06 Nov 08
       
      I think this would be a great conversation! I see a huge difference between memorizing your math facts and memorizing the capitals of states. Where do we draw the line?
    • Michael Walker
      Michael Walker on 06 Nov 08
       
      If NCLB/MCAII's require students to memorize facts for standardized tests, can we instruct at a higher level than Knowledge on Bloom's? Scott McLeod has an interesting video on that here: http://www.dangerouslyirrelevant.org/2008/08/whats-the-best.html Though you will need to view it at home because our filter blocks Vimeo, the site he uploaded the movie to.
    • Tess Bademan
      Tess Bademan on 07 Nov 08
       
      Hmm. . . . I don't buy it! Isn't a knowledge base necessary for the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy? Am I old-fashioned to think that there are certain things that educated people should KNOW?
  • (Twitter blocked on the filter, but Facebook not!)
    • Kris B.
      Kris B. on 06 Nov 08
       
      What was the rationale for the difference in how they treat these sites? How does the administration in Edina feel?
  • margaret smith on 06 Nov 08
     
    An innovative and collaborative environment is an exciting thought. Technology has changed so much in the last 15 years. It is hard to imagine how our classrooms will change in the next five years.
Michael Walker

Is Technology Producing A Decline In Critical Thinking And Analysis? - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...090128092341.htm

research Technology decline issues criticalthinking

shared by Michael Walker on 30 Jan 09 - Cached
  • Schools should make more effort to test students using visual media, she said, by asking them to prepare PowerPoint presentations, for example.
  • Schools should make more effort to test students using visual media, she said, by asking them to prepare PowerPoint presentations, for example.
  • Michael Walker on 30 Jan 09
     
    Science News Share Blog Cite Print Email Bookmark Is Technology Producing A Decline In Critical Thinking And Analysis? ScienceDaily (Jan. 29, 2009) - As technology has played a bigger role in our lives, our skills in critical thinking and analysis have declined, while our visual skills have improved, according to research by Patricia Greenfield, UCLA distinguished professor of psychology and director of the Children's Digital Media Center, Los Angeles. See also: Mind & Brain Intelligence Educational Psychology Computers & Math Video Games Computer Graphics Science & Society Popular Culture Educational Policy Reference Computing power everywhere Webcast Computer-generated imagery Aptitude Learners have changed as a result of their exposure to technology, says Greenfield, who analyzed more than 50 studies on learning and technology, including research on multi-tasking and the use of computers, the Internet and video games. Her research was published this month in the journal Science. Reading for pleasure, which has declined among young people in recent decades, enhances thinking and engages the imagination in a way that visual media such as video games and television do not, Greenfield said. How much should schools use new media, versus older techniques such as reading and classroom discussion? "No one medium is good for everything," Greenfield said. "If we want to develop a variety of skills, we need a balanced media diet. Each medium has costs and benefits in terms of what skills each develops." S
Michael Walker

Classroom Management of Laptops - School Computing - 1 views

schoolcomputing.wikia.com/...lassroom_Management_of_Laptops

1:1 laptops classroom-management tips

shared by Michael Walker on 15 Dec 09 - Cached
  • the teacher must circulate in the classroom
    • Michael Walker
      Michael Walker on 15 Dec 09
       
      This is the "Bottom Line!"
  • Don’t forget your established classroom management skills.
  • Try to find ways to celebrate all sorts of different successes.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • Catch them being good
  • Teach good note-taking skills!
  • For better discussion, lower laptop screens
  • Designate a scribe. Consider designating a student as scribe for the day and have him/her take notes for the class. Allow other students to use the laptop only during student-centered activities and not during teacher-centered lessons.
    • Michael Walker
      Michael Walker on 15 Dec 09
       
      Then the scribe can share with the rest of the class.
  • Hold students accountable.
  • Remember, it's about them; not you. You don't have to be a master of technology, nor do you have to understand everything kids can do with technology. Create a framework for an engaging, student-centered assignment and let students surprise you with their innovative contributions!
  • disruptive behavior with laptops is also more likely to occur when laptops are integrated into a learning activity where they aren't essential, or in the classrooms of teachers who have discipline issues without laptops.
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