Social bookmarking seems useful to me. I think being able to have your favorite sites all saved in one place is helpful. Last year our school got all new teacher computers and if I would have known this was available I would have saved all my favorites to this. Instead I wrote them all down so I would have them, which takes longer and can be inaccurate if not written down just right. As far as sharing sites between teachers this is also helpful. It would be much easier to share among grade levels if we used social bookmarking. Something else I would like to do is use this as a choice of what students can look at when we go to the computer lab. In my school, each teacher is in charge of what they want to teach the students at the computer lab. I think it would be nice to show students how they can open up the page I've created and read the descriptions to choose what they want to go to. After awhile maybe show them how to choose their own or add to a class page.
I find the definition of instructional design and technology every changing much like teaching itself. I have only been teaching a few years and already I see so many changes occurring on best practices for teaching. Technology changes so much also. It only makes sense that when trying to combine technology with effective learning/teaching the definition is going to evolve. I really think that a good point was made when the book said technology instruction is going to make people think of media. This is why they added the word design because you have to know how to use the technology, but also how to create. I am fortunate enough to have an interactive whiteboard at my school. Every teacher has a SMART Board, but not all teachers know how to design lessons for the board. A lot of teachers continue teaching the way they always have because they do not know how to create lessons using this media. Another good point I think the book made was when talking about ethics. I can see this being a problem more in older grades, but even just being appropriate with technology is a problem at times. Students in young grades will see if they can get away with searching for inappropriate things on the internet. I see this as the beginning of teaching ethics and appropriateness on the computer.
It seems to me that if your school is willing to invest in the SMART boards, they also ought to be willing to invest in the training to go along with it. What good is the technology if it is not being used to its fullest potential? Or as Siegel suggested, we need to use innovative technology in ways that highlight its advantages over previous methods.
ReplyDeleteI would LOVE to see an interactive whiteboard in use! I've heard about them and read about them, but have never seen one. I'm curious to know what features make them even better than a regular whiteboard.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you and Beth about taking the next step to show teachers how to use their technology. I hate to see students miss out because teachers don't fully know how to incorporate technology. It also makes me mad to see teachers who just have no interest in learning how to use any technology at all. So frustrating! Especially when there are so many unemployed teachers who would go above and beyond to incorporate technology. Making new gadgets/programs available is definitely just the first step!
I have found it very difficult to write down all the websites, even though I keep a file on them. If you do the copy and paste the link into word it's much easier to print them off. I also used that when I added them to the delicious account. It's so easy to miss an underscore or some little symbol. That might make it easier for you.
ReplyDeleteI also didn't know how to use the SmartBoard(R) until my last class. We have one in the resource center, in our conference room. I have experimented with it now and wrote directions how to hook up a laptop or the computer in the room to it, download the software and use it. Smart technologies has a website to assist teachers and several that have lesson plans created by teachers that you can share on practically any subject. They will also provide you with live on line demonstrations that you can sign into. They also offer training sessions on site for schools--there is probably a charge for that.
http://smarttechnologies.com/
http://education.smarttech.com/ste/en-us/Ed+Resource/Lesson+activities/Notebook+activities/
Margie
First off...your favorites in you web browsers can be saved. Just type "export/save bookmarks" in your browser help and it should tell you how to do so. That way you don't need to write them down by hand. You save the file and then transfer that file to whatever computer you want to use. Social bookmarking does take the need for this away though.
ReplyDeleteOur school system just installed whiteboards in all the classrooms this past year. I was super excited about them and used them every day for multiple lessons. I changed many of my lesson plans so that I might use the new technology. I was excited about learning the different ways I could incorporate this new technology into my teaching and all the new things I could do with it. Then there were the teachers who didn't really know what to do with it or who really didn't want to expend the effort to change their teaching strategies or lessons so they continue on teaching the way they have been for years, which frustrates me. Ethics is another great point and one that I believe needs to be discussed at an administration level. Who is in charge of teaching these technology ethics? Is it the classroom teacher? The computer teacher? Are they supposed to be taught directly or indirectly? Each district and school needs to discuss this and I believe it is altogether appropriate for different schools/districts to have different answers to these questions.
You made a great point when you said that "they added the word design because you have to know how to use the technology, but also how to create."
ReplyDeleteNot knowing how to implement technologies has been a problem at my school. We have the same problem with mimios (another type of electronic whiteboard) as you have with SMART boards. Some of our teachers last year had trouble figuring out how to implement them in a way that is "computer imaginative," making use of its features in a productive way that doesn't simply imitate the regular whiteboard. Part of the problem is that we experienced an information overload last year with all the new technologies and teaching methods that we were asked to implement last year. What has your school/district done to help teachers start implementing SMART boards?