The Google Documents Presentation Maker was incredibly easy to use. It operates the same as PowerPoint in Microsoft Office but I think the share and edit features are a bit more transparent in the Google version. I was easily able to import pictures and add them to the slides. The choices of slide lay out were readily available. I also set it up so that it would be an online collaborative effort. My question is if it is online can I go to my account from any computer with Internet access and have my presentation come up? Could it be that simple? No more need to carry my laptop with me and need the sign in for someone else's hot spot? That would be just too cool. Check out My very important presentation: https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AWNfkZp5VMppZGNnOTY3eGdfMGMzejg2eGZk&hl=en
I found the spread sheets to be just as easy to use. The features were all the same as Microsoft office and again the sharing and saving and accessibility was awesome. Check out my spread sheet;
https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=0AmNfkZp5VMppdE9pRHlUX2NqVk9JYXlNOGhaOG8tZ2c&hl=en&output=html
So why do we pay big money when there is so much good free software and how can Google offer so much for free? I know advertising pays for a lot of things. Maybe they count on the people who do not know how much stuff is for free. Kind of the same way rebates and coupons count on you never sending in the forms. We may never know or will we ?
Oshkosh Airventure camping
We all have the same amount of hours in a day. It's what we do with them that sets us apart.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Sunday, August 8, 2010
R/D 13 Is it unlucky to end on 13. I say it is not. Here goes last but not least.
What made me say "wow that's so neat" is that I went back to my blog after reading Chapter 31 Emerging Instructional Technologies: The Near Future to start my reflection and found this link http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/08/04/technology-takes-formative-assessment-to-a-whole-new-level/#utm_source=feed&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed . The article was right in line with the material from chapter 31. I thought the most ironic and awesome part was that it was on my blog as a RSS feed all of which were part of a class for Educational Technology. Check out the article it is pretty amazing. Not in how advanced it is but in the fact that we are beginning to allow students to learn how to learn and not just memorize and spit back information.
My son went to a Montessori public school from K-6th grade. He excelled and loved school. When it was time to go to middle school he was put into a traditional learning environment. It took him a while to understand the whole new system and to learn that he could not work at his own pace but had to wait if he finished first or get left behind if he didn't finish when everyone else did. It was a hard transition and he was disgruntled during his remaining secondary years. He has succeeded but school was not as enjoyable a place for him as it could have been. If he could have continued with the Montessori methods it would have been a better overall experience.
My favorite activity of the semester has to be the blog itself. As I stated in my first reflection, seeing my words in print in what looks to be a very professional environment is very gratifying. The added benefit is that others will be reading it and critiquing it. I welcome praise and critiquing as they both make us better at what we do. I have shared my blog with friends,and relatives as well as classmates. Most are impressed and some have felt challenged to rise to encompass new technology in their own requiem of knowledge.
My son went to a Montessori public school from K-6th grade. He excelled and loved school. When it was time to go to middle school he was put into a traditional learning environment. It took him a while to understand the whole new system and to learn that he could not work at his own pace but had to wait if he finished first or get left behind if he didn't finish when everyone else did. It was a hard transition and he was disgruntled during his remaining secondary years. He has succeeded but school was not as enjoyable a place for him as it could have been. If he could have continued with the Montessori methods it would have been a better overall experience.
My favorite activity of the semester has to be the blog itself. As I stated in my first reflection, seeing my words in print in what looks to be a very professional environment is very gratifying. The added benefit is that others will be reading it and critiquing it. I welcome praise and critiquing as they both make us better at what we do. I have shared my blog with friends,and relatives as well as classmates. Most are impressed and some have felt challenged to rise to encompass new technology in their own requiem of knowledge.
R/D 12 Next to last but not next to least /Rich Media
I enjoyed chapter 30 Using Rich Media Wisely. The first bit of new learning was that I learned what Rich Media was. Now I can converse in geek-speech and sound informed. I like informed.
In this chapter the scientist in me definitely stepped up to the plate. I will be looking up more of the specifications on the studies in this chapter to find out sample size, age of the participants and other relevant information.
For my first take away, age of the participant came to mind as I was reading the section on Minimizing Irrelevant Audio,pg 318. This came to mind as my 16 year old daughter sat at the computer with her headphones plugged in, itunes playing, as she flipped back and forth between facebook and a summer homework paper writing project for an AP English Class. Facebook is open because friends were also working on the same school project. Mom facebook is not just for fun, jeez. She got a A on the paper. It made me wonder if audio overload applied mainly on the initial introduction to material or did it carry over to the output of prior knowledge.(i.e. writing a review on a book ). I think it is a study that I would like to run to try and either validate or invalidate the need for students to have music playing while they study or not have music playing while they study. It is a struggle that has moved down through the generations.
For my second take away,I do agree that visuals to support written text, greatly improve the learning and retention of materials especially in low learners. I have used (and will continue to use) visual aids in biology and chemistry classes to aid in the learning process. There are quite a few programs and online sites that provide excellent microscope pictures some with video of microscopic creatures that can sometimes be hard to capture under a microscope in class. It is always easier to remember that a cyanospirobacteria is blue and spirally when you can see that under the microscope he really is blue and shaped like a spiral. Wow, how cool is that?
In this chapter the scientist in me definitely stepped up to the plate. I will be looking up more of the specifications on the studies in this chapter to find out sample size, age of the participants and other relevant information.
For my first take away, age of the participant came to mind as I was reading the section on Minimizing Irrelevant Audio,pg 318. This came to mind as my 16 year old daughter sat at the computer with her headphones plugged in, itunes playing, as she flipped back and forth between facebook and a summer homework paper writing project for an AP English Class. Facebook is open because friends were also working on the same school project. Mom facebook is not just for fun, jeez. She got a A on the paper. It made me wonder if audio overload applied mainly on the initial introduction to material or did it carry over to the output of prior knowledge.(i.e. writing a review on a book ). I think it is a study that I would like to run to try and either validate or invalidate the need for students to have music playing while they study or not have music playing while they study. It is a struggle that has moved down through the generations.
For my second take away,I do agree that visuals to support written text, greatly improve the learning and retention of materials especially in low learners. I have used (and will continue to use) visual aids in biology and chemistry classes to aid in the learning process. There are quite a few programs and online sites that provide excellent microscope pictures some with video of microscopic creatures that can sometimes be hard to capture under a microscope in class. It is always easier to remember that a cyanospirobacteria is blue and spirally when you can see that under the microscope he really is blue and shaped like a spiral. Wow, how cool is that?
Thursday, August 5, 2010
THE NEW WEBSITE IS HERE!!
I have created a website to support my aviation summer camp. It will allow students both former and potential to check out the latest information about upcoming events for aviation summer camp. I have also set it up so that I could invite former students to be collaborates on the website. This would allow past students to share their experiences from aviation summer camp. They could also post pictures and stay in touch with friends that they made during summer camp.
Students interested in the next summer camp could get a look and hear what other camp aviators thought and liked or disliked about camp. This would provide me with great feedback.
I haven't yet but I would also make a page with links to aviation related events that are happening in our geographical region. There are quite a few.
Another fun thing would be to have students start a my map and everyone could put a marker on the map of where they went this summer. It's how I spent my summer vacations with a techno-twist. The link could be attached to the website.
I know there are a load of other possibilities such as paypal for enrollment fees, video logs, links to facebook and even to a blog if you wanted , Which reminds me : to check out my new website go to :https://sites.google.com/site/aviationsummercamp/home . This is something that I have been wanting to do. It's still not great but it is a start.
Students interested in the next summer camp could get a look and hear what other camp aviators thought and liked or disliked about camp. This would provide me with great feedback.
I haven't yet but I would also make a page with links to aviation related events that are happening in our geographical region. There are quite a few.
Another fun thing would be to have students start a my map and everyone could put a marker on the map of where they went this summer. It's how I spent my summer vacations with a techno-twist. The link could be attached to the website.
I know there are a load of other possibilities such as paypal for enrollment fees, video logs, links to facebook and even to a blog if you wanted , Which reminds me : to check out my new website go to :https://sites.google.com/site/aviationsummercamp/home . This is something that I have been wanting to do. It's still not great but it is a start.
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
R/D11 Targeted Strengths and Weakness for Professional Growth
In reading chapter 27 of Trends and Issues In Instructional Design and Technologyy by Reisner and Dempsey I was intrigued by the history of the formation of a career field. It has been said that the jobs we and our children are training for have not yet even been invented and some maybe not even thought of yet. That thought is the basis of my intrigue.
In viewing the ID, training manager, and instructor competencies listed on page 275, Table 27.3, I was able to identify my areas of competencies and my areas of needed growth and improvement. I found this list to be very helpful. My professional plan include the continuation of Summer Aviation Camp, and possibly other small business ventures. I first identified my greatest strength as falling under the Instructional Designer Planning & Analysis section. I am good at seeing the big picture or the overall plan. The six steps helped me to identify, well just that, steps to planning and analysis. I then compared my planning and analysis process with the steps in the text and found that I had been fairly thorough in this area. It was great to have some confirmation that the planning path I had chosen did not seem to have any huge gaps. I likewise felt that under Instructional Designer the process of Design & Development was an area where I had excelled. The competencies listed do not go into great detail as to what is should entail but having them listed is a great jumping off place.
Before settling on my strength lying under the area of Instructional Designer I studied the competencies listed under Instructor and Training Manager. I stopped at Professional Foundations under Training Manager and a few of the competencies listed there were definitely areas that I need to improve on. The one that really jumped out the most for me was number 4 under this column. Number 4 states: Update and improve professional and business knowledge, skills and attitudes. I am a science/biology/techno geek major and the finer points of the business end of business are not always my strong point. If my goals are to proceed toward small business ventures I need to increase my knowledge in the overall business specifics.
Number 2 was the next area of needed development. It states Comply with established ethical and legal standard knowledge and skills. I have no problem with establishing and complying with the ethical portion it is the legal standard knowledge and skills that is the issue. Could we put an emphasis on the SKILLS. Legalese is not my strong point and I will have to initially, I guess find someone to trust to guide me in the beginning steps. I may be selling myself a bit short in this area but I know enough to know that what I don't know can hurt me.
The last (well in improvement there should never be a last) competency that jumped out at me was under Instructional Designer, Professional Foundations, Number 2 and number 4. I know that is not the last one but rather the last two but they go hand in hand. Number 2 states: Apply current research and theory to practice and Number 4 states: Apply basic research skill to design projects. By increasing my knowledge base in applying current research to the projects I design I will better be able to share my visions with other professionals. It would move presentations out of the field of lay person to documented research professional. One giant step for man(or woman in this case) and one giant leap for my professional career goals.
In viewing the ID, training manager, and instructor competencies listed on page 275, Table 27.3, I was able to identify my areas of competencies and my areas of needed growth and improvement. I found this list to be very helpful. My professional plan include the continuation of Summer Aviation Camp, and possibly other small business ventures. I first identified my greatest strength as falling under the Instructional Designer Planning & Analysis section. I am good at seeing the big picture or the overall plan. The six steps helped me to identify, well just that, steps to planning and analysis. I then compared my planning and analysis process with the steps in the text and found that I had been fairly thorough in this area. It was great to have some confirmation that the planning path I had chosen did not seem to have any huge gaps. I likewise felt that under Instructional Designer the process of Design & Development was an area where I had excelled. The competencies listed do not go into great detail as to what is should entail but having them listed is a great jumping off place.
Before settling on my strength lying under the area of Instructional Designer I studied the competencies listed under Instructor and Training Manager. I stopped at Professional Foundations under Training Manager and a few of the competencies listed there were definitely areas that I need to improve on. The one that really jumped out the most for me was number 4 under this column. Number 4 states: Update and improve professional and business knowledge, skills and attitudes. I am a science/biology/techno geek major and the finer points of the business end of business are not always my strong point. If my goals are to proceed toward small business ventures I need to increase my knowledge in the overall business specifics.
Number 2 was the next area of needed development. It states Comply with established ethical and legal standard knowledge and skills. I have no problem with establishing and complying with the ethical portion it is the legal standard knowledge and skills that is the issue. Could we put an emphasis on the SKILLS. Legalese is not my strong point and I will have to initially, I guess find someone to trust to guide me in the beginning steps. I may be selling myself a bit short in this area but I know enough to know that what I don't know can hurt me.
The last (well in improvement there should never be a last) competency that jumped out at me was under Instructional Designer, Professional Foundations, Number 2 and number 4. I know that is not the last one but rather the last two but they go hand in hand. Number 2 states: Apply current research and theory to practice and Number 4 states: Apply basic research skill to design projects. By increasing my knowledge base in applying current research to the projects I design I will better be able to share my visions with other professionals. It would move presentations out of the field of lay person to documented research professional. One giant step for man(or woman in this case) and one giant leap for my professional career goals.
R/D 10 Differences and Similarites across the spectrum
The three contexts that we have read about in the last few weeks are Industrial Design in Business and Industry described in Chapter 18, Trends and Issues in P-12 in Chapter 21 and What do Instructional Designer do in Higher Education in Chapter 22.
The first and most significant theme that I noticed among all three of the contexts is that they all have an application for Instructional Design and Technology. It is definitely entrenched as a vital part of all three contexts. All three of them make use of organizational procedures to increase the efficiencies of it's work force. It doesn't matter whether that work force is in a manufacturing environment with workers and engineers or an academic environment with teachers and administrators at a P-12 or higher education with professors and assistant professors.
Instructional Design techniques seem to be almost interchangeable in the Industrial business and P-12 with the one difference in that P-12 does not have to identify the client. Although I guess even that could be the a needed step in P-12 to identify if the client were students, teachers or administrators. The higher education context seemed to be less structured than the other two contexts. While there is a structure in place it did not seem to be as rigid across the board as either the business or P-12 contexts. All three the same frame work of matter experts ,evaluators and other team members with the flowcharts looking very similar (pg 176 and 226).
A second theme throughout all three contexts is the use technology for a wide range of task from interdepartmental and international communication among employees and clients, to online training and software to enhance job efficiencies.
A scaled down version of either the environmental systemic approach in chapter or the Unit Team Approach in chapter 22 could help to bring more organization to at least one of the business projects that I am currently working on . The business side could be best served by incorporating the talents of the academic side for the good of the whole environment. Our instructors are not aware of the revenue that is required to make the company a success. One example is recently we have booked birthday parties and the parents have wanted to add an extra half hour to the birthday party. There is an extra charge for that and the parents were willing to pay the extra. Two of our younger employees were in charge of one of those birthday and ran our standard schedule for the party and then told the client "well that is all we have. You really don't need the extra half hour because we can fit it all into the normal time frame. They did not think that the extra half hour could have been extra revenue for the company. A organized instructional design process put in place would include a plan for training from the top down. Something may seem basic to one person but it is not to another.
The first and most significant theme that I noticed among all three of the contexts is that they all have an application for Instructional Design and Technology. It is definitely entrenched as a vital part of all three contexts. All three of them make use of organizational procedures to increase the efficiencies of it's work force. It doesn't matter whether that work force is in a manufacturing environment with workers and engineers or an academic environment with teachers and administrators at a P-12 or higher education with professors and assistant professors.
Instructional Design techniques seem to be almost interchangeable in the Industrial business and P-12 with the one difference in that P-12 does not have to identify the client. Although I guess even that could be the a needed step in P-12 to identify if the client were students, teachers or administrators. The higher education context seemed to be less structured than the other two contexts. While there is a structure in place it did not seem to be as rigid across the board as either the business or P-12 contexts. All three the same frame work of matter experts ,evaluators and other team members with the flowcharts looking very similar (pg 176 and 226).
A second theme throughout all three contexts is the use technology for a wide range of task from interdepartmental and international communication among employees and clients, to online training and software to enhance job efficiencies.
A scaled down version of either the environmental systemic approach in chapter or the Unit Team Approach in chapter 22 could help to bring more organization to at least one of the business projects that I am currently working on . The business side could be best served by incorporating the talents of the academic side for the good of the whole environment. Our instructors are not aware of the revenue that is required to make the company a success. One example is recently we have booked birthday parties and the parents have wanted to add an extra half hour to the birthday party. There is an extra charge for that and the parents were willing to pay the extra. Two of our younger employees were in charge of one of those birthday and ran our standard schedule for the party and then told the client "well that is all we have. You really don't need the extra half hour because we can fit it all into the normal time frame. They did not think that the extra half hour could have been extra revenue for the company. A organized instructional design process put in place would include a plan for training from the top down. Something may seem basic to one person but it is not to another.
Monday, August 2, 2010
Screencasting: We're really cooking now !!
As I have stated before I am a Lead Chef for the Young Chefs Academy in Kalamazoo. We hold summer cooking camps at our facility. The Kellogg Foundation provided a grant that allows KPS and KRESA students who receive free or reduced lunches to attend our camp free for one week. Part of the requirement for receiving this money is that we need to not only cook but relate the camp to their educational experience as a support for making academics relevant.
Screencasts could be used as a way to have the students learn new computer skills while also learning and demonstrating for others their new found cooking skills. It would reinforce the fact that computers can be used for something other than a social media network among friends to find out who is dating who or who is wearing what.
In our summer camps we have students from the age of five to fifteen. This age range could be used to our advantage in the fact that the younger students could be actually doing the demonstrating while the older students are hacking on the computers. Some skills that we could demonstrate would be proper measuring techniques for solids and liquids. Different cutting techniques such as dice, chiffionade, julienne, peeling, just to name a few. We could make a YOU TUBE video and post it to a Young Chefs Blog that we could establish or make a link to our website.
All of our summer camp weeks have different themes. One of the themes is Celebrity Chefs. I could have some of our employees or myself go to the websites of different Chefs such as Emeril, Guy, Paula Dean, etc.
Once we have downloaded the video of them demonstrating either kitchen safety rules or a special cooking technique we could over dub with our audio to customize the lesson for our audience.
I also see this as a way for our former or future students to have a place to go to ask questions or learn a particular technique as a preview before attending a cooking class or camp. Students who have missed some of the lessons or would just like to review the techniques again could do so without the whole class having to review the lesson again. A more informed student always make for a more enjoyable and productive class.
Screencasts could be used as a way to have the students learn new computer skills while also learning and demonstrating for others their new found cooking skills. It would reinforce the fact that computers can be used for something other than a social media network among friends to find out who is dating who or who is wearing what.
In our summer camps we have students from the age of five to fifteen. This age range could be used to our advantage in the fact that the younger students could be actually doing the demonstrating while the older students are hacking on the computers. Some skills that we could demonstrate would be proper measuring techniques for solids and liquids. Different cutting techniques such as dice, chiffionade, julienne, peeling, just to name a few. We could make a YOU TUBE video and post it to a Young Chefs Blog that we could establish or make a link to our website.
All of our summer camp weeks have different themes. One of the themes is Celebrity Chefs. I could have some of our employees or myself go to the websites of different Chefs such as Emeril, Guy, Paula Dean, etc.
Once we have downloaded the video of them demonstrating either kitchen safety rules or a special cooking technique we could over dub with our audio to customize the lesson for our audience.
I also see this as a way for our former or future students to have a place to go to ask questions or learn a particular technique as a preview before attending a cooking class or camp. Students who have missed some of the lessons or would just like to review the techniques again could do so without the whole class having to review the lesson again. A more informed student always make for a more enjoyable and productive class.
Friday, July 23, 2010
R/D 9 Reflection on Online Course (so far so good)
I have to say that so far so good is probably an understatement. Employment for the not so 20's generation has taken on quite a new look in the last ten to twenty years. Employers and Employee don't necessarily stay together for thirty years anymore.
Having the ability to take this course online provides a flexibility that makes it possible for me to continue with my education that would not be possible if I had to dedicate campus time for all of the classes. It allows me to juggle my schedule between three part-time jobs and family life. Next week I will be completely out of town so I was able to go online and complete all of my classwork ahead of time and not even miss a beat.
I have enjoyed the challenges of surfing and investigating technologies that I have heard about and said "Oh, I should try that " but alas have not. Now I can say " Oh yes, I've tried that" and have first hand knowledge as to whether in my never to be humble opinion it was great or not.
The first few lessons were challenging. RSS Feeds, and del.icio.us gave me the biggest fits. In working through the issues that I had with these downloads and uploads I learned a lot that I was able to transfer to some of the other lessons that made them virtually (pun intended) painless. .
The frustration level has been quite high at some points mostly because my attitude was that whatever it was I was doing should not be that hard, yet it just wasn't working. The collaboration between our classmates has definitely been the saving grace in those moments of highest frustration, even though I had to wait for a response. The waiting gives me time to reflect on what I have tried and what I have not tried.
I will definitely incorporate some of what we have learned in my professional work. I plan on starting a new blog to keep in touch with my Aviation Summer Camp students to let them know what is happening in the area that is related to aviation and share some of my adventures with them. We will also be using the Google my maps next year in Aviaiton Summer Camp as an enhancement to our navigation curriculum.
This seems to be a good first course for the Educational Technology program but it is hard to evaluate if it is a good first course because it is my first course and I have nothing to compare it to. I like the textbook. The history of Instructional Technology is definitely a good place to start. It also introduces many organizational systems and it is always good to have a sound organizational system in place before you start a project of any sort.
I leave you now for a week as we fly out to Oshkosh Airventure 2010 in our Cessna 172. We will be camping under the wing of the aircraft for the week. I will also be attending Teacher day at Airventure. The program relates aviation and science to high school curriculum. My daughter will be attending a program called WomenSoar. It is a program just for girls grades9-12. Check it out on the world wide web http://www.airventure.org/ .
The picture at the top of my blog is our campsite from years past. Below is a You tube video :EAA Promo
Enjoy, I know I will.
Blueskies and Sunshine
Ginger
Having the ability to take this course online provides a flexibility that makes it possible for me to continue with my education that would not be possible if I had to dedicate campus time for all of the classes. It allows me to juggle my schedule between three part-time jobs and family life. Next week I will be completely out of town so I was able to go online and complete all of my classwork ahead of time and not even miss a beat.
I have enjoyed the challenges of surfing and investigating technologies that I have heard about and said "Oh, I should try that " but alas have not. Now I can say " Oh yes, I've tried that" and have first hand knowledge as to whether in my never to be humble opinion it was great or not.
The first few lessons were challenging. RSS Feeds, and del.icio.us gave me the biggest fits. In working through the issues that I had with these downloads and uploads I learned a lot that I was able to transfer to some of the other lessons that made them virtually (pun intended) painless. .
The frustration level has been quite high at some points mostly because my attitude was that whatever it was I was doing should not be that hard, yet it just wasn't working. The collaboration between our classmates has definitely been the saving grace in those moments of highest frustration, even though I had to wait for a response. The waiting gives me time to reflect on what I have tried and what I have not tried.
I will definitely incorporate some of what we have learned in my professional work. I plan on starting a new blog to keep in touch with my Aviation Summer Camp students to let them know what is happening in the area that is related to aviation and share some of my adventures with them. We will also be using the Google my maps next year in Aviaiton Summer Camp as an enhancement to our navigation curriculum.
This seems to be a good first course for the Educational Technology program but it is hard to evaluate if it is a good first course because it is my first course and I have nothing to compare it to. I like the textbook. The history of Instructional Technology is definitely a good place to start. It also introduces many organizational systems and it is always good to have a sound organizational system in place before you start a project of any sort.
I leave you now for a week as we fly out to Oshkosh Airventure 2010 in our Cessna 172. We will be camping under the wing of the aircraft for the week. I will also be attending Teacher day at Airventure. The program relates aviation and science to high school curriculum. My daughter will be attending a program called WomenSoar. It is a program just for girls grades9-12. Check it out on the world wide web http://www.airventure.org/ .
The picture at the top of my blog is our campsite from years past. Below is a You tube video :EAA Promo
Enjoy, I know I will.
Blueskies and Sunshine
Ginger
Thursday, July 22, 2010
R/D8 Trends and Issues In Various Settings Should it be all or nothing?
There were definitely two issues/ trends that stood out for me. (1)The need to continue the trend to incorporated flexibility in education. (2) The need to somehow come to terms with the need to go big or go home.
(1) I spent three years in a inner-city (all be it not a very big city) federally funded program designed to increase the educational levels of 14-21 year old youth. My duties were separated into two main categories. One program was designed for high school age youth who for some reason had failed a subject in school. Our program allowed these students to recover credits through online classes. I was the instructor/facilitator/mentor for this program. Most of the students who came to me were not just failing a class but many classes. Sometimes they were failing all of their classes. I taught everything from Algebra to Zoology. My students were not just left at the computer but each had an individualized program and each received individual instruction and tutor on a daily basis. It was by no means a traditional setting. It was a computer lab with 20 computers and after the first six months was full of 20 students almost everyday after the regular school day and we had a waiting list. In those three years over 125 students not only passed there course work but also graduated with a High School diploma.
The second portion of my job description was to evaluate and teach basic math and reading skills to 16-21 year old youth. I dubbed this crowd my "too cool for school crowd". They earned this title because they were all high school drop-outs who had decided for whatever reason that they did not need to finish high school and would be fine without it. It didn't take them long to discover that even the job at Taco Bell required the ability to pass a basic math test. This was an ability they did not have. Who is cool now? I know it is not you.
This situation came to mind while reading about the Chugach School District in Anchorage, Alaska. With the statement that they had 214 students ages preschool to age 21 spread out over 22,000 square miles, I knew some measures other than traditional lecture based classroom instruction would have to occur if they truly planned on educating those 214 students. They also were facing a harsh environment like the inner city students both environmentally and socially. In order to truly educate everyone which is the goal of our country we will have to have a flexible, ever changing ,ever reevaluating systems.
(2) I really liked the whole concept of Ecological Systemic Change versus the piecemeal approach. What came to mind is that using the piece meal approach is like putting a bandaid on a mortal wound with hopes that it will stop the bleeding. Everyone who is watching knows that the bandaid will not help to save the persons life but still they stand by and smile, cheer and offer words of encouragement anyway. Way to go dude you can do it ! Just stand still so the bandaid doesn't fall off and everything will be just great! (or not)
So the Ecological systemic approach sounds like a much better approach. I agree that it is but (you knew that was coming) when I got to the end of the chapter it was emphasized how expensive the approach is. The need for long term financial commitment is a key to the long term success in the approach. This was a great let down because I thought I had a good thing going and now I learn that I must now learn how to convince a major contributor to fund a lifelong endeavour. If you want excellence you do have to go big or go home. Excellence never comes with a cheap price tag whether that is in time invested or money. I have found it has always been worth the investment.
(1) I spent three years in a inner-city (all be it not a very big city) federally funded program designed to increase the educational levels of 14-21 year old youth. My duties were separated into two main categories. One program was designed for high school age youth who for some reason had failed a subject in school. Our program allowed these students to recover credits through online classes. I was the instructor/facilitator/mentor for this program. Most of the students who came to me were not just failing a class but many classes. Sometimes they were failing all of their classes. I taught everything from Algebra to Zoology. My students were not just left at the computer but each had an individualized program and each received individual instruction and tutor on a daily basis. It was by no means a traditional setting. It was a computer lab with 20 computers and after the first six months was full of 20 students almost everyday after the regular school day and we had a waiting list. In those three years over 125 students not only passed there course work but also graduated with a High School diploma.
The second portion of my job description was to evaluate and teach basic math and reading skills to 16-21 year old youth. I dubbed this crowd my "too cool for school crowd". They earned this title because they were all high school drop-outs who had decided for whatever reason that they did not need to finish high school and would be fine without it. It didn't take them long to discover that even the job at Taco Bell required the ability to pass a basic math test. This was an ability they did not have. Who is cool now? I know it is not you.
This situation came to mind while reading about the Chugach School District in Anchorage, Alaska. With the statement that they had 214 students ages preschool to age 21 spread out over 22,000 square miles, I knew some measures other than traditional lecture based classroom instruction would have to occur if they truly planned on educating those 214 students. They also were facing a harsh environment like the inner city students both environmentally and socially. In order to truly educate everyone which is the goal of our country we will have to have a flexible, ever changing ,ever reevaluating systems.
(2) I really liked the whole concept of Ecological Systemic Change versus the piecemeal approach. What came to mind is that using the piece meal approach is like putting a bandaid on a mortal wound with hopes that it will stop the bleeding. Everyone who is watching knows that the bandaid will not help to save the persons life but still they stand by and smile, cheer and offer words of encouragement anyway. Way to go dude you can do it ! Just stand still so the bandaid doesn't fall off and everything will be just great! (or not)
So the Ecological systemic approach sounds like a much better approach. I agree that it is but (you knew that was coming) when I got to the end of the chapter it was emphasized how expensive the approach is. The need for long term financial commitment is a key to the long term success in the approach. This was a great let down because I thought I had a good thing going and now I learn that I must now learn how to convince a major contributor to fund a lifelong endeavour. If you want excellence you do have to go big or go home. Excellence never comes with a cheap price tag whether that is in time invested or money. I have found it has always been worth the investment.
R/D7 Instructional Design and Technology How Have I Seen It In Action
I recently was rehired as a paid CPR/First Aid Instructor with the American Red Cross. I was a paid instructor a few years ago, changed jobs and became a volunteer instructor at the Red Cross. To make a long story short I have been a instructor for the past 7 years. Initially our instruction was completely instructor to student classroom style which is to say lecture based followed by practical instruction using the CPR mannikin's named Rescua Ann and Resuca Andy. Personally I was never able to tell them apart.
The Red Cross employs a panel of experts who evaluate the efficiencies and effectiveness not only of the instruction material being presented but of the method of preforming CPR it's self. This panel is composed of Doctors, Nurses, Professional educators, business men, and lay personnel from the community who are instructors. In the past seven years I have seen significant changes in the procedures we use to train lay people in CPR.
One of the most significant changes is in the change from two person CPR to one person CPR. The Red Cross does not even teach two person CPR any longer. If you have taken CPR in the past you will remember the old two person team CPR method. The reason for this change is that once CPR has been started you are usually committing to performing CPR until emergency medical services arrives. Logic tells us that if we have to preform CPR for even a short time we will get very tired. If two people know CPR they can perform CPR much longer if one person performs CPR while the other one rest and they trade back and forth until help arrives. This change came about because of evaluations done through the professional team of experts.
Another example of Instructional Design and Technology at work is in the addition of technology to the instructional process. Instead of being lecture bases CPR classes have moved into the Audio Visual age through the use of first video tapes and VCR and now DVDs and DVD Players. Instruction can also be a hybrid of Internet bases instruction and testing followed up by a short practical session with an instructor.
Offering a variety of learning options has allowed the Red Cross to increase its' reach into even more remote locations. It also allows the instructors to remain up to date and able to benefit from a larger pool of knowledge than just that of their home chapter.
The Red Cross employs a panel of experts who evaluate the efficiencies and effectiveness not only of the instruction material being presented but of the method of preforming CPR it's self. This panel is composed of Doctors, Nurses, Professional educators, business men, and lay personnel from the community who are instructors. In the past seven years I have seen significant changes in the procedures we use to train lay people in CPR.
One of the most significant changes is in the change from two person CPR to one person CPR. The Red Cross does not even teach two person CPR any longer. If you have taken CPR in the past you will remember the old two person team CPR method. The reason for this change is that once CPR has been started you are usually committing to performing CPR until emergency medical services arrives. Logic tells us that if we have to preform CPR for even a short time we will get very tired. If two people know CPR they can perform CPR much longer if one person performs CPR while the other one rest and they trade back and forth until help arrives. This change came about because of evaluations done through the professional team of experts.
Another example of Instructional Design and Technology at work is in the addition of technology to the instructional process. Instead of being lecture bases CPR classes have moved into the Audio Visual age through the use of first video tapes and VCR and now DVDs and DVD Players. Instruction can also be a hybrid of Internet bases instruction and testing followed up by a short practical session with an instructor.
Offering a variety of learning options has allowed the Red Cross to increase its' reach into even more remote locations. It also allows the instructors to remain up to date and able to benefit from a larger pool of knowledge than just that of their home chapter.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
GOOGLE My Maps Lesson
In Aviation Summer Camp we have one day where we focus quite a bit on navigation. I could have every student log on to a computer and test out many of the features on Google Maps.
The first thing we could do is just a short tutorial for anyone who has never used Google Maps before. Some of the key features that would be of great advantage to us as pilots would be the ability to map our course ahead of time. We could use the My Maps section for this.
The my map would not be good solely to navigate by since it is a street map and not a topographical chart. What it would be excellent for is in forming our flight path and then using the satellite or even better the street view to be able to see the actual landing strip before we ever had to land there. We could also look at the terrain and any possible obstacles that could be a hazard to air navigation.
Another feature is the ability to insert into the map latitude and longitude marker. This could then be compared with the navigation charts to pin point the airstrip or airport locations. We could also identify landmarks from the my map that may not be on the airnav charts such as a restaurant that we may want to eat at or a hotel to stay in.
This would be a useful tool that I hope the students could use in many different situations. Click on the map as it is interactive.
See example below.
View Aviation Summer Camp Air Tour in a larger map
Try the different views to see if you can find the best approach for the airports. Happy teaching and flying.
The first thing we could do is just a short tutorial for anyone who has never used Google Maps before. Some of the key features that would be of great advantage to us as pilots would be the ability to map our course ahead of time. We could use the My Maps section for this.
The my map would not be good solely to navigate by since it is a street map and not a topographical chart. What it would be excellent for is in forming our flight path and then using the satellite or even better the street view to be able to see the actual landing strip before we ever had to land there. We could also look at the terrain and any possible obstacles that could be a hazard to air navigation.
Another feature is the ability to insert into the map latitude and longitude marker. This could then be compared with the navigation charts to pin point the airstrip or airport locations. We could also identify landmarks from the my map that may not be on the airnav charts such as a restaurant that we may want to eat at or a hotel to stay in.
This would be a useful tool that I hope the students could use in many different situations. Click on the map as it is interactive.
See example below.
View Aviation Summer Camp Air Tour in a larger map
Try the different views to see if you can find the best approach for the airports. Happy teaching and flying.
Monday, July 19, 2010
R/D6 Can HPI change the face of my workplace?
Question: What are some ways the ideas/concepts/principles discussed in this chapter be applied in your professional work. Do you see opportunities where these ideas could help you or your students?
Response: At this present time I do not believe that HPI could be of help in my professional work. At one of my places of employment I am my only employee. The other people who assist me in the program all volunteer and there are only about five of them. At my other place of employment I am second in command and we have three other employees. It seems likely that it would be cost prohibitive to have HPI do a total analysis of our work force at either position.
I do however think that as business grows, it would be a great benefit to start out with a plan in place before the companies get to large. I have heard said that it is easier to do it right the first time than to do it wrong and have to do it again. Two times is not better than one.
How I do think HPI can and has helped me is in promoting themselves through this textbook Trends And Issues In Instructional Design And Technology. While reading the text it brought to mind all of the different improvement plans that I have gone through in the last thirty years.
My first introduction to human improvement programs was in the 70's and 80's in the United States Air Force. Some programs were good and some were obviously designed for civilian application and did not fit the military environment. One section has us take a personal stress level profile test. A well adjusted stable persons test scores should have been around the 300-350 range. We all scored in the 500's which basically meant we should have been committed to a psychiatric institution immediately. ( do not pass go , do not collect two hundred dollars). The instructor was quite upset. A few of the questions they used to judge our mental stability by were (1) How many times have you moved in the last five years. (2) Do you have a well defined line between you home life and your job. Well if you know anything about the military you get why the questions were not appropriate.
What I did get from this chapter is to always be evaluating the evaluating process. It came through loud and clear that there is no one magic solution to any companies human improvement issues. This is what sets HPI apart form some of the "Snake Doctor Medicine Show Cure Alls" I have attended in the past.
I have mentioned in a previous article the KAIZEN events through the aerospace company that I previously worked for and how our motto among the employees was " He who KAIZENS last wins." It's not to say there were not many valuable points to the program, there were. It was just as they say "not all that".
I enjoyed very much reminiscing while learning more about the HPI system. Thank you for the good time and the new information.
Response: At this present time I do not believe that HPI could be of help in my professional work. At one of my places of employment I am my only employee. The other people who assist me in the program all volunteer and there are only about five of them. At my other place of employment I am second in command and we have three other employees. It seems likely that it would be cost prohibitive to have HPI do a total analysis of our work force at either position.
I do however think that as business grows, it would be a great benefit to start out with a plan in place before the companies get to large. I have heard said that it is easier to do it right the first time than to do it wrong and have to do it again. Two times is not better than one.
How I do think HPI can and has helped me is in promoting themselves through this textbook Trends And Issues In Instructional Design And Technology. While reading the text it brought to mind all of the different improvement plans that I have gone through in the last thirty years.
My first introduction to human improvement programs was in the 70's and 80's in the United States Air Force. Some programs were good and some were obviously designed for civilian application and did not fit the military environment. One section has us take a personal stress level profile test. A well adjusted stable persons test scores should have been around the 300-350 range. We all scored in the 500's which basically meant we should have been committed to a psychiatric institution immediately. ( do not pass go , do not collect two hundred dollars). The instructor was quite upset. A few of the questions they used to judge our mental stability by were (1) How many times have you moved in the last five years. (2) Do you have a well defined line between you home life and your job. Well if you know anything about the military you get why the questions were not appropriate.
What I did get from this chapter is to always be evaluating the evaluating process. It came through loud and clear that there is no one magic solution to any companies human improvement issues. This is what sets HPI apart form some of the "Snake Doctor Medicine Show Cure Alls" I have attended in the past.
I have mentioned in a previous article the KAIZEN events through the aerospace company that I previously worked for and how our motto among the employees was " He who KAIZENS last wins." It's not to say there were not many valuable points to the program, there were. It was just as they say "not all that".
I enjoyed very much reminiscing while learning more about the HPI system. Thank you for the good time and the new information.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
R/D5 Will the Latest in Technology Change the Face of Education?
Many people complain about the education of our children in the United States. Some comments we hear over and over again are that our children are falling behind, we used to be the best but now among the educated children of the world we are way behind. The key phrase in that statement is "among the educated children of the world".
In the United States we make every effort to educate every child who is born in the United States. Their parents do not even have to be legal residents. We offer thirteen years of free education to every child no matter how poor or rich their parents are. Most of the countries of the world do not offer this to even most of their children must less to all of them.
What does this have to do with the use of technology and education via the Internet and the world wide web you ask? Ask people like Bill Gates. Computers which are run on solar power and linked to satellites are being distributes to small villages in remote parts of Kenya and other very poor African countries. The children and adults are being educated through the World Wide Web with the use of these computers.
Recently we had the opportunity to purchase one of these computers with a buy one for yourself and one would be sent to one of the African communities. My initial reaction was these people had more pressing needs like water, food and better shelter but we Americans are sending them computers instead. I read quite a few articles and came to change my opinion.
Education is the basis for our country. It was a basic concept that Thomas Jefferson firmly believed in. If our great country is based on education of the masses it seems that we should also support the education of the masses in the rest of the world.
Through the wonders of the World Wide Web and the Internet these African villages can be exposed to a whole world that they would not know about otherwise. They can be educated not only at an K-12 level but even beyond. Once a hunger for knowledge has been awakened it is hard to fill the appetite.
Educated people form educated societies, which form more school,business and so on and so on. It is now my opinion that distributing computer to villagers who have no electricity or running water can be liked to the parable of giving a man a fish and feeding him for a day. Isn't it better to teach(educate) him to fish and feed himself and others for a life time.
In the United States we make every effort to educate every child who is born in the United States. Their parents do not even have to be legal residents. We offer thirteen years of free education to every child no matter how poor or rich their parents are. Most of the countries of the world do not offer this to even most of their children must less to all of them.
What does this have to do with the use of technology and education via the Internet and the world wide web you ask? Ask people like Bill Gates. Computers which are run on solar power and linked to satellites are being distributes to small villages in remote parts of Kenya and other very poor African countries. The children and adults are being educated through the World Wide Web with the use of these computers.
Recently we had the opportunity to purchase one of these computers with a buy one for yourself and one would be sent to one of the African communities. My initial reaction was these people had more pressing needs like water, food and better shelter but we Americans are sending them computers instead. I read quite a few articles and came to change my opinion.
Education is the basis for our country. It was a basic concept that Thomas Jefferson firmly believed in. If our great country is based on education of the masses it seems that we should also support the education of the masses in the rest of the world.
Through the wonders of the World Wide Web and the Internet these African villages can be exposed to a whole world that they would not know about otherwise. They can be educated not only at an K-12 level but even beyond. Once a hunger for knowledge has been awakened it is hard to fill the appetite.
Educated people form educated societies, which form more school,business and so on and so on. It is now my opinion that distributing computer to villagers who have no electricity or running water can be liked to the parable of giving a man a fish and feeding him for a day. Isn't it better to teach(educate) him to fish and feed himself and others for a life time.
Aviation Summer Camp 2010 at Newmans Field
The first three days were spent on the basic principles of flight.
Tuesday's principles included the physics of rocket flight along with a build and launch session.
On Wednesday we began designing our own aircraft. A drawn design with specs is required before building can start. Then it's build, test, evaluate, redesign, rebuild, test, evaluate, repeat until desired results are achieved.
Thursday was time to learn a bit about Navigation, instrumentation, and preflight for all pilots. We plotted our course for Fridays flight and returned for more building and design work.
Friday was flight day. The students were able to fly through the Young Eagles program. Pilots from EAA Chapter 221 donated their time and aircraft for the flights. We flew up to Plainwell for some breakfast at the FLY-IN Restaurant. Much fun was had by all.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
R/D4 Photo Sharing and the art of Instructional Design
The art of Instructional Design is as much of an art as the master pieces of Picasso or Monet. They are both things of beauty and both require talents that not everyone posses. It is a talent to be able to able to construct an activity that is fun yet primarily educational.
The method of Instructional Design allows us to take a seemingly monumental task and break it down into manageable pieces. A journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step.
I have spent the last year and a half putting the model of Instructional Design into practice. Friday was the culmination of the work I have put in over the last year and a half. This work has been in putting into place an Aviation Summer Camp for 8-12th grade students.
In the initial conception of the idea I did indeed "assess the needs to identify the goals." My mission statement was where I began. "Making Math and Science Relevant". In a notebook I wrote down what it would take to offer a Aviation Summer Camp. I identified my targeted student age by not only my knowledge level but also the other programs in the surrounding community that would either support my efforts or areas that were lacking that I could fill.
In conducting instructional analysis I not only analyzed the curriculum but evaluated resources in the form of support personnel and community involvement that could support the curriculum standards that I set. Finally deciding on performance objectives only after much research. Revision, development of assessment instrument,revision, develop instructional strategy, revision, all the way down to summative evaluation (oh yes and more revision). Summative evaluation for year 2010 of Aviation Summer Camp has begun and will be completed in the next few weeks. The formation of Aviation Summer Camp for 2011 has already begun and oh yes, did I mention revisions. It is a very gratifying feeling when a well thought out Instructional Design comes to full fruition.
Oh yes, and for the other portion identified in the title of this article Photo Sharing, I love it. We have had many different photo sharing programs over the years. All of our relatives (except for our own children) live out of state and we are only able to see them a few times a year. It is great to be able to share holiday and even ordinary day things with them through photo sharing software. In the realm of an educational use, my students and fellow instructors from Aviation Summer Camp are creating a web link of some sort to share photos that we took during camp. Much fun and learning was had by all. (and we got to fly too!)
The method of Instructional Design allows us to take a seemingly monumental task and break it down into manageable pieces. A journey of a thousand miles begins with just one step.
I have spent the last year and a half putting the model of Instructional Design into practice. Friday was the culmination of the work I have put in over the last year and a half. This work has been in putting into place an Aviation Summer Camp for 8-12th grade students.
In the initial conception of the idea I did indeed "assess the needs to identify the goals." My mission statement was where I began. "Making Math and Science Relevant". In a notebook I wrote down what it would take to offer a Aviation Summer Camp. I identified my targeted student age by not only my knowledge level but also the other programs in the surrounding community that would either support my efforts or areas that were lacking that I could fill.
In conducting instructional analysis I not only analyzed the curriculum but evaluated resources in the form of support personnel and community involvement that could support the curriculum standards that I set. Finally deciding on performance objectives only after much research. Revision, development of assessment instrument,revision, develop instructional strategy, revision, all the way down to summative evaluation (oh yes and more revision). Summative evaluation for year 2010 of Aviation Summer Camp has begun and will be completed in the next few weeks. The formation of Aviation Summer Camp for 2011 has already begun and oh yes, did I mention revisions. It is a very gratifying feeling when a well thought out Instructional Design comes to full fruition.
Oh yes, and for the other portion identified in the title of this article Photo Sharing, I love it. We have had many different photo sharing programs over the years. All of our relatives (except for our own children) live out of state and we are only able to see them a few times a year. It is great to be able to share holiday and even ordinary day things with them through photo sharing software. In the realm of an educational use, my students and fellow instructors from Aviation Summer Camp are creating a web link of some sort to share photos that we took during camp. Much fun and learning was had by all. (and we got to fly too!)
R/D3 Part 2
Question poised: Back to the Trends & Issues reading, to what degree do the definitions in this chapter correspond to with what you have thught about this area and what it is you hope to do in you line of work(or in a future career) Is there anything suprising or very new yu read in this chapter? Does something seem to be missing?
Response: Computers(personal computer) have been in our household since the early 80's. My husband has been delving into the world of computers since the time of commodore 64 and black and green DOS screens and the world of PONG brought to you by ATARI. I have contact thorough osmosis and was throw into the world of computer full force when I went back to college in 1999 to finish my bachelors. This class that we are taking is all computer ( I know that is a shock to most of you) .
Where am I going with this? When I sat down to read the text I had computers and computer litearacy and computer intergration into the educational system on my mind. I at first found the definitions confusing and I had to reread the first chapter to try and let it sink in. Then the light bulb went on and I realized they were not just talking about computers but educational instruction as a whole.
Once I understood that I felt that a lot of their definitons were just symantic. A jousting between individuals who had somewhat the same ideas and goals but were labeling it differently. The defining moment for me was the distinction between of Instructional Technology and the renaming of our field to Instrucitonal Design and Technology. The sematics only label went away for me then and I had to agree that an appropriate name for our field was an important thing.
Beyond a clear understanding in the naming of our field, my plans for the use of the information gained is to be able to allow my students a chance to explore all there is to offer. We can never know everything but I plan to stay on top of new design and technology advancments. Even if I do not have a deep and through understanding of a particular website or gadget I would like to at least have a working knowledge or familarity with what ever technology is out there.
Response: Computers(personal computer) have been in our household since the early 80's. My husband has been delving into the world of computers since the time of commodore 64 and black and green DOS screens and the world of PONG brought to you by ATARI. I have contact thorough osmosis and was throw into the world of computer full force when I went back to college in 1999 to finish my bachelors. This class that we are taking is all computer ( I know that is a shock to most of you) .
Where am I going with this? When I sat down to read the text I had computers and computer litearacy and computer intergration into the educational system on my mind. I at first found the definitions confusing and I had to reread the first chapter to try and let it sink in. Then the light bulb went on and I realized they were not just talking about computers but educational instruction as a whole.
Once I understood that I felt that a lot of their definitons were just symantic. A jousting between individuals who had somewhat the same ideas and goals but were labeling it differently. The defining moment for me was the distinction between of Instructional Technology and the renaming of our field to Instrucitonal Design and Technology. The sematics only label went away for me then and I had to agree that an appropriate name for our field was an important thing.
Beyond a clear understanding in the naming of our field, my plans for the use of the information gained is to be able to allow my students a chance to explore all there is to offer. We can never know everything but I plan to stay on top of new design and technology advancments. Even if I do not have a deep and through understanding of a particular website or gadget I would like to at least have a working knowledge or familarity with what ever technology is out there.
R/D3 Defining the field and social bookmarks
Response: I do find a value in social bookmarking. It could (and will) be useful in all of the scenarios mentioned in the question. I have spent the last few weeks directing and instructing an aviation summer camp. The students were (and are) very enthusitic. There is no way to impart all the knowledge and resources that I have and they want in just one week. We have decided, the students and I, that we would set up some sort of online resource that we could all share our knowledge and aviation experinces. Social bookmarking would be a good tool to allow the students and me a chance to share resources that we have found.
With that said I would like to ponder the negative side of social bookmarks on delicious but not in particular as they pertain to the internet in general. When searching out these new and wonderful devices I am initially excited to be learning something new: to go to somewhere I have never gone before. This enthusiam last usually for about the first hour. Then I begin to feel like a person who has been sent into the library of congress and told to find one specific book. Did I mention this person has been to a library before but has always just went to a specific section and picked out a book off the shelf from their favorite author.This person knows nothing about card libraries or the dewey decimal system and the Librian is not present but you can leave her a note and she'll get back with you soon, maybe. This is my delemia. My challenge is to learn the dewey decimal equivelant to the order of the internet. Maybe there isn't one. Maybe I need to help create one. All of these different systems are there to help us do just that. Let me help you organize your information. Each one claims. I thank you but could you make it a little simpler maybe?
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Link to Gingers Wiki
This is the link to my Wiki!! Yea and Hip http://sunshinandblueskies.pbworks.com/ hip horray!!
Thursday, July 8, 2010
R/D2 Blogs and RSS Readers(Really Simple Syndication)
My first impression of using a blog was that i felt very professional. It looked as though I was a published writer. There was a very good feeling knowing that people would be reading and analyzing what I was writing. I was instantly publishing to an infinite number of readers. For this I would like to thank the Internet and many people who have spent endless hours putting all of these resources together. I would also like to thank my husband and children for there patience and the academy for ...or wait I digress.
The surprising portion of the feeds to subscribe to was the fact that they were feeds that I had a particular interest in. Coming out of the era of magazine subscriptions as a major source of information, I was glad to see choices other than Redbook or Women's Day. Over the years many magazine sales people have knocked on our door and asked us to subscribe to their list of magazines. There were almost never any of interest to me. The closest they could come to anything science or technology related was Time and some would offer National Geographics. National Geographics is good but quite often not on the list either.
About five years ago I was hired to teach online high school courses. The screens initially were black and green DOS screens that were text only. Even the math problems were a struggle to enter in their proper form. My comment was that for the students this was the same as reading a text book without any pictures and if the students could do that and pass they would not be here to see me. All of my students were taking the online classes in as remedial courses having failed the same course at least once. As time went by the course content and interactivity of student and computer increases. We now had sound,then pictures, then actual video with demonstrations. Dale's Cone reminds me of the progress that was made in the learning tool (the Internet). The computer itself is not a one size fits all is expanding to include almost all of the sections of the cone. RSS feeds can take you on video field trips to the Egyptian ruins or tour the NASA Space facilities. Students can Blog about there ideas with other students with the same interest even if they live in a small town with limited resources. Educational Television is available at the click of a mouse with a Feed reminder. The key is to have these resources available and as a teacher to share these resources with our students.
Last week was the first week of Aviation Summer Camp. The students and I had a awesome time discovering aviation and its' practical links to math and science. We used link from the NASA website to demonstrate airflow over different wing configurations. This visual aid via computer simulation with the ability to reconfigure our wings with just the click of a few buttons allowed us to experiment in a short time frame and move into our designs. If we had to build models of our different airfoils and tested them in a wing machine of our making it would have been quite time consuming. The students were able understand the principles they needed to design their own model aircraft with correct ratios for fuselage and wings. All designs were then tested and evaluated for fly characteristics. After evaluations were complete they then began to evaluate solutions to their flight problems. We again referred to the simulations for possible solutions before final design changes were made. All aircraft made successful flights before the end of the week. The problem to which each of these tools is an answer is that we as graduates of summer aviation camp can form blogs with RSS links to continue to share our knowledge and to continue to use our feeds to tap into the vast knowledge base that is there. Our job is not to have students reinvent the wheel in every class every year but to learn how to use that wheel more efficiently and in different ways that maybe no one has thought of before.
The surprising portion of the feeds to subscribe to was the fact that they were feeds that I had a particular interest in. Coming out of the era of magazine subscriptions as a major source of information, I was glad to see choices other than Redbook or Women's Day. Over the years many magazine sales people have knocked on our door and asked us to subscribe to their list of magazines. There were almost never any of interest to me. The closest they could come to anything science or technology related was Time and some would offer National Geographics. National Geographics is good but quite often not on the list either.
About five years ago I was hired to teach online high school courses. The screens initially were black and green DOS screens that were text only. Even the math problems were a struggle to enter in their proper form. My comment was that for the students this was the same as reading a text book without any pictures and if the students could do that and pass they would not be here to see me. All of my students were taking the online classes in as remedial courses having failed the same course at least once. As time went by the course content and interactivity of student and computer increases. We now had sound,then pictures, then actual video with demonstrations. Dale's Cone reminds me of the progress that was made in the learning tool (the Internet). The computer itself is not a one size fits all is expanding to include almost all of the sections of the cone. RSS feeds can take you on video field trips to the Egyptian ruins or tour the NASA Space facilities. Students can Blog about there ideas with other students with the same interest even if they live in a small town with limited resources. Educational Television is available at the click of a mouse with a Feed reminder. The key is to have these resources available and as a teacher to share these resources with our students.
Last week was the first week of Aviation Summer Camp. The students and I had a awesome time discovering aviation and its' practical links to math and science. We used link from the NASA website to demonstrate airflow over different wing configurations. This visual aid via computer simulation with the ability to reconfigure our wings with just the click of a few buttons allowed us to experiment in a short time frame and move into our designs. If we had to build models of our different airfoils and tested them in a wing machine of our making it would have been quite time consuming. The students were able understand the principles they needed to design their own model aircraft with correct ratios for fuselage and wings. All designs were then tested and evaluated for fly characteristics. After evaluations were complete they then began to evaluate solutions to their flight problems. We again referred to the simulations for possible solutions before final design changes were made. All aircraft made successful flights before the end of the week. The problem to which each of these tools is an answer is that we as graduates of summer aviation camp can form blogs with RSS links to continue to share our knowledge and to continue to use our feeds to tap into the vast knowledge base that is there. Our job is not to have students reinvent the wheel in every class every year but to learn how to use that wheel more efficiently and in different ways that maybe no one has thought of before.
Friday, July 2, 2010
D/B1 Response to Technology/Anti- Technology Articles
In the reading Of Luddites, Learning and Life I did not find Neil Postman to be anti-technology based so much as anti-change for change sake.
About ten years ago I worked for a Aerospace company. New management came in and ushered in a new way to approach employee -manager relations and increase efficiency and productivity in one neat innovative package. Kaizen was the way to bring our UAW employees and management together as a team. You can Google Kaizen for details. It is a very task oriented management method designed to give one in the process absolute power as a team to streamline a process to it's ultimate efficiency. Then a new group of employees are chosen and they evaluate either the same issue of another issue of their choosing and improve upon that goal. Each team has absolute power to change what they see fit. After a few Kaizens the unofficial motto of the participants became he who Kaizens last wins. The ultimate goal was lost on the masses. Many times it was change for change sake. This is brought to light by Neil Postmans example of his attempt to purchase a Honda Accord which only came equipped with cruise control and power windows.
Five years ago I was privileged to be hired to begin a program that would allow secondary students a chance to recover credits through an online classroom program. This was an inner-city program designed for "at risk youth". The students came to me after having failed a specific subject (or two or three) and through the magic of the computer were allowed to redeem themselves in order to obtain their high school diploma.
When I was asked by friends and colleagues what my latest venture was and I explained, their comment was almost always the same. Well that should be easy for the students since kids these days know all about computers and are on them all the time. This statement I found to be a logical fallacy. The students that I worked with did not have access to computers either at school or home and the limited exposure that they did have was in emailing. LOL
I found the statement by Chalres Reigeluth that technology has had minimal impact on K-12 education very insightful and not at all main stream. It seems to be a little know fact that many of our K-12 students are virtually computer illiterate. Technology is making its headway's but it does have far to go.
About ten years ago I worked for a Aerospace company. New management came in and ushered in a new way to approach employee -manager relations and increase efficiency and productivity in one neat innovative package. Kaizen was the way to bring our UAW employees and management together as a team. You can Google Kaizen for details. It is a very task oriented management method designed to give one in the process absolute power as a team to streamline a process to it's ultimate efficiency. Then a new group of employees are chosen and they evaluate either the same issue of another issue of their choosing and improve upon that goal. Each team has absolute power to change what they see fit. After a few Kaizens the unofficial motto of the participants became he who Kaizens last wins. The ultimate goal was lost on the masses. Many times it was change for change sake. This is brought to light by Neil Postmans example of his attempt to purchase a Honda Accord which only came equipped with cruise control and power windows.
Five years ago I was privileged to be hired to begin a program that would allow secondary students a chance to recover credits through an online classroom program. This was an inner-city program designed for "at risk youth". The students came to me after having failed a specific subject (or two or three) and through the magic of the computer were allowed to redeem themselves in order to obtain their high school diploma.
When I was asked by friends and colleagues what my latest venture was and I explained, their comment was almost always the same. Well that should be easy for the students since kids these days know all about computers and are on them all the time. This statement I found to be a logical fallacy. The students that I worked with did not have access to computers either at school or home and the limited exposure that they did have was in emailing. LOL
I found the statement by Chalres Reigeluth that technology has had minimal impact on K-12 education very insightful and not at all main stream. It seems to be a little know fact that many of our K-12 students are virtually computer illiterate. Technology is making its headway's but it does have far to go.
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