Educated

Ban Sanikha, Thailand – how the students are using the laptops.

The OLPC team has created this incredible opportunity. They have constructed a Laptop computer called the XO laptop; this has been designed ‘to provide children with the access to libraries of knowledge, ideas, experiments and art – to provide a window to the world’.The XO laptop was created to make it more so affordable for children in developing and developed countries to own their own laptop. By providing them with a laptop it will enables the learners to connect to a mesh – network to make available a high-band width wireless connectivity within the home, community or within the school, it is able to connect a whole community as well as people around the world.Children can play, learn, explore, exchange, you can just about do anything you wanted to do. Momentarily there are many schools trialling the program; Porto Alegre Brazil, Galadima Nigeria, Ban Sanikha Thailand, Cardal Uruguay, Arahuay Peru and Khairat India just to mention a few which were listed on their website.If the XO laptops are as great as they sound I believe they should be introduced in Australia, for example in the Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory where they are working hard to use the resources they have available, this may assist them to provide the children with better access to a worth of information.

“As educators we feel we need to inspire our students to learn..” (Gebhardt. A & Harrell, P. 2001)

Gebharbt and Harrell believe we as educators and potential educators need to ‘teach students how to channel and organize their inspiration’. The two writers of the commentary Inspiring Creations are English teachers who devised this to share their successes in using the mind mapping software Inspiration to inspire creative thinking and writing in their students.Inspiration is exciting and valuable software which allows students to take any topic or idea and easily make it expand. Inspiration helps students make connections between the ideas, type their ideas down faster and organise in a logical format. Inspiration can be used for majority of Key Learning Areas. Here are a few ideas on how to use inspiration to:·    

• Plan Essays using the mind map as a template
• To organise the results of research       
• To collaborate whole class ideas

These ideas are just to name a few; there are endless possibilities of what can be done. In my experience with the software I have found it very simple to operate, easy to navigate around, upload graphics, is very user friendly and a great learning tool.Take the time out to experience this fantastic software and read the commentary as it provides many ideas to get you started.

Here is an example of a Inspiration mind map I completed:

“From word processing software to the internet to portable
 hand-held devices, computer technology use in schools is
growing. How will it look in the future?”
 (Means. B. 2000 p57.)

While reading the commentary, ‘Technology Use in Tomorrow’s Schools’, I realised the relationship between this commentary and the famous debate I have already reviewed ‘the Pros and Cons of technology in the classroom’. This commentary supports and strengthens Pea’s and Cubin’s opinions on the ideal technology which should be available and a constant support structure for all teachers and students. The network system in a minority of schools is unfortunately unable to support the strain too many users’ place on the network. My mother (an Assistant Principle in a Northern Territory community school and is also in responsible for the ICT department at the School) and I were talking about this exact issue a night ago. After the discussion it is shown me the less than ideal circumstance some schools are faced with. For example the internet connection in my mother’s school is significantly slower; it is equivalent to that of a small house hold that only has one computer running off dial up internet.  This only allows for three students to be connected at the same time around the entire school. Whilst a school in Sydney is able to withstand a class of (approx. 25 students) all being on the internet completing task at the same time. Don’t get me wrong it is fantastic that new technologies are being developed every day. We just need to keep in mind that the computers and the networks also need to be updated in conjunction with this extremely advanced industry. Technology is encouraging meaningful learning, the way that the students are engaging and converse with technology is amazing and opens all kinds of doors.The reading concludes by discussing tomorrow’s classroom and what we should expect. They argue “schools will become one among many kinds of organisations offering formally organized distributed learning” (Means. B. 2000 p60.). There are many challenges which l lies ahead although they cannot be escaped, we are able to prepare for them and incorporate the technology and not let it take over.

Personally I was a little sceptic about how games can be used to perform lifesaving surgery or to even help people learn. This was until I watched the video ‘No Gamer left behind’, I am now aware of how engaging and thought provoking games can be. Edutopia is the company who leading the research on computer – simulation technology, is exploring how enormously powerful for our kids’ this new technology is. Simulation is not just another in the long line of passing fads (or short-term opportunities) in educational technology. It is, rather, a real key to helping our students understand the world. There is no doubt that when we are put into a new environment they can be mistakes make, simulation technology is a better way for students to learn content it is better than throwing information at students and they may not even engage, students seem to be attractive to students and makes the important information they are required to learn more interesting. The US Army is currently using the Edutopia programs to provide the soldiers with a virtual world where they are able to treat patients and act as if they were in real like, it is seen to be replacing the real world experience which in time will minimize the accidents they have when learning. The simulation technology is seen as using critical thinking, tapping into the students interests as well as allowing the students to assist in designing the games. For example a Mckinely Technology High School student designed a Fire safety game for younger students to educationally inform them of the dangers of fires. Another example is Ben who is a cancer patient requested to design a game for other children who are also suffering from cancer to entertainment them as well as provide them with information on how they are battling the cancer. I found this video very interesting and it has taught me another technology which is available in today for use in a classroom environment.

I Strongly advise people who are interested in the newest and latest technologies to watch the video ‘No Gamer Left Behind: Virtual Learning Goes to the Next Level’

Emily and I discovered how to create our first VodCast. After exploring the software and analysing a detailed handout we were able to construct the VodCast below on Rainforest Maths. We strongly recommend you watch our Vodcast as well as visit the Rainforest Maths website.

vodcastlwej.mp4

I love reading and digesting Emily’s blogs, she views technology in such a different light than I do. One of her postings regarding ‘Computer as a paintbrush’ demonstrates her hesitation towards assembling her future classroom into one which incorporates Information Communication Technologies (ICT). Inside Emily’s scrutiny of the commentary she recounts her own experiences at school being that of the use of basic software and playing games. When both Emily and myself were proceeding through Primary School we unfortunately encountered the introduction of computers and the only available resource at that time if I remember correctly was learning how to type at a accurate level as well as being capable at using word and excel, which was seen as an important skill to encompass.

I don’t find Emily’s views negative, I believe that reason for her thinking this way is because of her encounters with technology when she was at school.
Emily deliberates ideas which I would never pondered on this assists me when I look at technology, I now approach and evaluate using different ‘hats’ to help understand how others feel about technology.

Recently I have critically analysed a famous debate from ten years ago, titled ‘The Pros and Cons of Technology in the classroom‘. The commentary provides the pros and cons over the value and role of computing technology in K-12 classrooms.  The speakers are nationally recognized Dr. Roy Pea and Dr. Larry Cuban, each offer their insights around technology within the classroom.

Pea focuses on the ‘Pros’,   while Cuban articulates the ‘Cons’.  I primarily focused and agreed with Pea, he momentarily reflects why it is important for teacher to understand what they are in fact teaching and the environment they are exposing the children to. He discusses and provides written examples of how and why technology can be used for educational purposes through investigating two famous projects one called SimCalc and the other Project Globe.  Both projects are interesting and hands on way to teach and let the students communicate online.

Whilst Pea concentrates on the positives he doesn’t deny that there are an “endless list of reasons that challenge the wisdom of using technology in classrooms”.  These are around time management problem, can be expensive, minimal access to internet and it is hard to gauge what is effective and what’s not. Pea goes on to mention other reasons, although he concludes by stating these are important concerns although are overshadowed by reasons why we cannot ignore technology in our classrooms.

To justify whether we should continue introducing new technologies within the classroom I believe there are countless ‘Pros’ over the ‘Cons’. The ‘cons’ they suggest are fixable and technology is a sustainable method of teaching students within the classroom.
I feel if there was a similar debate carried out today there would be different ‘Pros’ and different ‘Cons’ and the method of recording this debate would of been done by using technology such as a Podcast or a Vodcast.

Reference:Pea, R. & Cuban, L. (1998). The Pros and Cons of Technology in the Classroom. Bay Area School Reform Collaborative Funders’ Learning Community Meeting, Palo Alto, CA February 5, 1998 http://tappedin.org/archive/peacuban/pea.html

Please take some time out to listen to my podcast. I really felt this vodcast off YouTube was valuable.

wikisblogs.mp3

Check out the video on YouTube!

Tonight I discovered the world of YouTube, I could have never imagined the amount of digital presentations which have been uploaded on there. I started watching a sample commentary Kath Cassidy’s Yr 1 Class Use of Social Software, Telling the New Story I then found myself after 2 hours of discovering other peoples posts, I am now becoming aware of how utterly important technology is within today’s classrooms. One of the main messages across many presentations was we have to create a classroom where they will learn best to connect them to their world.

Although YouTube was so exciting, Kath Cassidy’s presentation made me feel like I was on a virtual tour of her classroom.  Cassidy explains throughout the video how she wasn’t very familiar with the new technologies out there. On the delivery of new computers she found herself becoming more familiar with the software and programs available so that the children would be able benefit from having the technology in their classroom.  Through allowing the students to use the internet for blogging it is proven to improve the student s literacy abilities as well as permitting the parents to view their student’s creations online at their discretion.

 Cassidy’s video has widened my perspectives on technology and how it should be used within the classroom and its importance.

Reference:
Kath Cassidy’s Yr 1 Class Use of Social Software. Telling the New Story.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ8VAef8QM4