Group items tagged

"The word "mistake" is a harsh word. It implies flaws, pointing fingers, errors in judgement, something wrong and possibly even a dead end. I would rather think or connect the word "mistake" to first steps, stepping stones, experimentation and exploration. With that being said, those "first steps" or that exploration cannot become a routine cemented in stone how technology is being used in the classroom. Stepping stones are meant to lead to something else. For the sake of the prompt given, here are my top 5 "Mistakes" (in no particular order) which I see, read and hear about as I travel the world to learn and work with schools, teachers and students: Technology being used to substitute an analog activity Technology use being seen as an add-on to allow students to use devices, the Internet, a program or an app as a reward, for entertainment, as a time filler for students who finish early Technology use as a separate subject area Technology as a $1000 pencil initiative Technology seen as the solution to motivate and engage students"

"Do you know what the most common electronic device that college student's possess? According to Joshua Bolkan, a multimedia editor for Campus Technology and The Journal, "85% of college students own laptops while smartphones come in second at 65%". If technology is becoming a common practice among our students, what are we doing as professors to incorporate it into our classrooms? How can students use technology to reflect on their work? How can instructors use technology as a supplement in reading and writing courses? How can technology be used to deepen our student's critical thinking skills? These are questions we should be asking ourselves in a world where technology is paving the way to learning. "

"Guest post by Silvana Meneghini, Academic Technology Coordinator, Graded- American School of São Paulo. Originally posted on her blog On the Edge. Pedagogical ideas like student centered learning, collaboration, and critical thinking have been around for a long time and are slowly making the way into the classroom. When technology came into play in schools, there was a big focus on technology tools and acquiring tech skills. Nowadays, there is a perception that technology has to be seamless and the main focus is on pedagogy. "

"Silvana Meneghini and I work as Academic Technology Coordinators at Graded, the American School of São Paulo. " A flashlight in the fog of technology integration", initially the title of a conference workshop proposal, quickly developed into the desire of creating a framework to guide and coach teachers based on Ruben Puentedura's SAMR model. The framework does not place emphasis on technology devices (or technology integration) in itself, but on the process of upward movement from substitution to redefinition of tasks and learning activities."

"Technology is not about "replacing" learning nor teaching. Technology is a tool to make learning and teaching possible in ways that it never was before nor that we had ever imagined (Well, maybe Gene Roddenberry from Star Trek had). I would like to share a small example of how technology tools can enhance a learning experience by making (personalized) connections to what is being learned in the classroom, bringing in the outside world, and taking learning literally "off the page"."

"cross posted with permission from Dr. Silvana Meneghini,'s On The Edge Blog. Silvana, the High School Technology Coordinator at Graded, The American School of São Paulo, shared a How-To post to connect augmented reality to student reflection by adding a layer of learning (not technology for technology sake). I highly recommend adding her blog to your RSS reader and following her on Twitter to connect with her learning and teaching journey. Enjoy Silvana's post below: Augmented Reality allows you to expand the experience of the real world with information, video, sound, GPS data, and so on. If well utilized, it can be much more than just another cool tech thing… You will see below an example of how Augmented Reality was used to expand the experience of visitors to our school's Art Exhibit. As students had to reflect on and verbalize their artistic choices, an augmented reality layer was created for viewers of the exhibit. In the process, students were excited about sharing with an authentic audience and had to really recall and reflect. It created a hyperlinked reality that enabled amplification of the viewers' learning experience that was much more engaging than text."

"There are, no doubt, many technophobes (among educators and in general) out there. Technophobia is defined by The Free Dictionary as: Fear of or aversion to technology, especially computers and high technology."

"Steven Kimmi, on his blog Experiments in Technology posted Taught Versus Learn, A Distinguishing Factor Again, it was a small sentence that caught my eye and I was not able to let it go. Just as Kim Cofino's quote about " Using Technology Integration in the classroom is a Mindset, not a skill set", I am mulling over the meaning of Steven's idea of waiting to be taught versus being willing to learn."

"I am constantly wrestling with the issue of using technology in schools to TEACH and to LEARN. Long ago, I have resolved that teaching and learning DO NOT depend on technology nor are "not real", good or effective without it"

"My 7th grade advisory students together with Ms. Arcenas' group has been discussing the impact of Google Glass, mainly because I have been bringing my Google Glasses to class and am sharing my experience with the students. As a grade level, we have been exploring Digital Citizenship and the impact wearable technology has, is and will have on our perception, definition and lives as Digital Citizens. Students jotted down their initial feelings about the Pros and Cons of Google Glass technology in a collaborative spreadsheet. Invading people's privacy (surprisingly!), cheating and becoming distracted or lazy was a major concern to many students."

"I can die happy now :) I have seen learning in the 21st Century modern classroom! The learning just oozes through the cracks of the physical classroom walls. Learning is amplified by the amount of people who are collaborating, participating, communicating and creating. The learning is NOT about the technology tools, but what students can DO with them to learn in new ways. The learning is about an authentic tasks, that allows students to contribute in a individualized and personalized manner to make them realize that their work matters in the real world. It all started out with a conversation between Mike Fisher and me. He had written over 40 children poems and was in the process of wondering what to do with them? I was looking for an authentic task for 9-11 year old students. We felt we had a perfect match! How about getting the students Language Arts and Art teacher involved? The initial idea was to make a unit of poetry come alive, study Mike's poems and visualize the poems by creating illustrations."

"I have been intrigued with the relationship of being skilled, literate and fluent in the Digital World for a while. We are focusing at school to look through the lens of fluency using technology as tools (e.g. using the iPad as the device and apps as the tool to achieve fluency), not as the end. I am wondering if the word "fluency" in the digital world, sparks the same thoughts or activates the background definition in other educators? I have heard others in the edubloggersphere use the word "workflow" instead of "fluency"."

"The Situation: I am working with Middle School students (Grades 6-8 - 11-13 year olds) at Graded, The American School of Sao Paulo, Brazil. One of the vision of our division is to create student blogfolios (Digital Portfolios on a blogging platform) to encourage and support sharing and documentation of learning artifacts and to receive authentic global feedback. We are just at the beginning of our journey to use the blogs to document and reflect. Specifically… Our 8th graders have written a "This I Believe" essay, which they are "upgrading" from a text base essay to a video or audio presentation using images, video or sound to not just "enhance with technology" but to truly transform a reader's/viewer's experience."

"My colleague, Silvana Meneghini, and I have been working on developing a Professional Development framework for embedding technology use and modern learning litercies based on Ruben Puentedura's SAMR model."

"As I am speaking of the benefits of blogging as a professional and student, I sometimes wonder if the word "blogging" is not a word we speak as we talk at cross-purposes with other educators. When I use the word "blogging", I am NOT seeing: technology, a project, an add-on to the curriculum content. When I use the word "blogging", I am seeing: learning how to read and write in digital spaces, the possibility of writing for an authentic global audience, a platform for reflection, investigation, documentation and curation, a platform that supports and amplifies modern skills and literacies. On the tails of Visible Thinking Routines for Blogging, comes this new blog post that wants to make Blogging VISIBLE!"

"What Do You Have to Lose? was a blog post I wrote 4 years ago… It is a new idea for many classroom teachers/students to move from writing, reading and "doing" work, not only for themselves, supervisors/parents or for a monetary compensation/grade, to share their work openly and freely with others. The idea of putting oneself "out there on the internet" (on a larger scale than the teacher lounge) and publicly "brag" about successes, admit failures, ask for help or document one's learning and teaching process, feels unnatural and even scares many of them. A lot of water has gone under the bridge, a lot has changed in terms of technology… It has been 4 years and my belief in sharing to amplify teaching and learning has grown stronger, even when the work I share gets taken, plagiarized and used for profit by others. I am continuing to make the benefits of documenting (for reflection, metacognition and connection purposes) visible, but the documentation can not be the end all. The next step must be sharing and disseminating that documentation. It is about sharing conversations, resources, model lessons, student work, reflections, innovative ideas, action research, etc. Sharing in service of benefiting the educational community and advancing eduction. Sharing in order to be part of a network that supports each other and and pushes thinking forward. Without individual parts, there is no network. The more parts, the larger and stronger the potential network. In the last few weeks, there have been many examples at Graded, the American School of São Paulo, that show the power of sharing and the ripple effect it created: Teaching others you will never meet Authentic audience Feedback Personal Branding Remix & Added Value Building a Personal Learning Network"

"I was lucky to have shared my childhood bedroom for a few years with my grandmother, when she had come to live with us after an illness. At bedtime, she would tell me stories of her parents and three brothers and growing up in East Prussia, fleeing to the West after WW2 and the things that occupied her mind. I was hooked on storytelling. The fascination grew when technology became available and opened up possibilities that were just not possible before. I would give anything to have been able to record my grandmother's stories and have shared them with my own children years later."

"The world is changing in exponential ways due to technology. Education is not an exception. Consumers are turning into producers. Kindergarteners are turning into authors with a worldwide audience. Middle Schoolers are emerging as critical thinkers and authentic problem solvers. High Schoolers are applying to colleges with real world work as part of their portfolios. Teachers become self-directed and connected worldwide for their professional development. This exciting evolution does not leave Business Managers or the school's support staff behind, as they are an integral part of all constituents' needs."

"his post if meant to be seen through the lens of Looking and Documenting FOR Learning from the perspective of administrators or staff in charge of supporting teachers' professional development and ongoing learning. I worked with teachers and administrators this past week at the Bavarian International School in Munich, Germany. Rachel Jackson, teacher librarian (mostly on Twitter) & Kim House, Technology Coordinator (mostly in a TodaysMeet backchannel) did an incredible job in documenting the work over our 3 days together."

"It was a post titled "Formats for Visual Thinking in the Classroom" from Richard Byrne on Free Technology for Teachers, that prompted me to write this post."