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.

Google Maps/ Batam/ The water is so blue/ I always wanted to go there.

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Aviation Summer Camp 2010 at Newmans Field

Aviation Summer Camp went very well.  We investigated all sorts of Aviation related topics.  The project voted most fun (well second to flying to Plainwell for brunch) was the design, build and test an airplane of your own. 
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.

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!)

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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. 

R/D3 Defining the field and social bookmarks

Question poised;  What value(if any) do you think social bookmarking might hold for teachers and.or students? You may think avot students sharing with each other, teachers sharing with therir stdents, theachers sharing with other teachers, admistrators sharing with teachers,sharing with parents, or any other scenario(s) you can imagine.

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?

Flickr Photos

This is my flickr photos