EdTech

Google Earth in Language Arts

Teachers are beginning to take advantage of Google Eart to introduce students to not only geography, but also a virtual history of storytelling by locating the countries where important authors come from. Mechelle De Craene, from Techlearning reports on how teachers are using this technology in the classroom.

Technology reshaping learning

Jason Szep reports on the influence of technology in teaching. Read, Technology reshapes America's classrooms.

Here's a video on learning styles. What is the relationship between technology and learning styles?

Facebook and MySpace teens fail to form sustainable relationships

Here's a controversy waiting for the media to go crazy over. A story in the Telegraph reports on the research of Himanshu Tyagi, a psychiatrist at West London Mental Health Trust, who believes, "social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace have fostered the idea that relationships and friendships can be formed and destroyed quickly and easily." Tyagi cites his work that shows how young people using social networking lack competency in understanding non-verbal communication cues as a key to forming lasting relationship.

Tyagi onserves:

t's a world where everything moves fast and changes all the time, where relationships are quickly disposed at the click of a mouse, where you can delete your profile if you don't like it and swap an unacceptable identity in the blink of an eye for one that is more acceptable.

The Computer Delusion

In a 1997 Atlantic Monthly article Todd Oppenheimer argued:

"There is no good evidence that most uses of computers significantly improve teaching and learning, yet school districts are cutting programs -- music, art, physical education -- that enrich children's lives to make room for this dubious nostrum...."

Fast forwarding a decade from Oppenheimer's pessimistic calculations, it appears, at least in my opinion, that the use of computers have indeed improved teaching and learning. Schools continue to cut programs, but today computer mediated communication is pervasive in our culture and there is no looking back.

Google Apps

Educause  Connect has launched a page called 7 things you should know about Google Apps. The page has a PDF attached that will give you the basics on the applications has they may apply to the classroom.

Social Networking sites to promote literacy

The School Library Journal has a good review of how MySpace and Facebook are promoting literacy through formal and informal learning. The article goes on to note how the social networking sites help learners communicate and collaborate more effectively.

Teaching with Technology

Digital technologies can help educators become more effective communicators: 

This bold assumption -- one  based on the belief that digital technologies make it possible for teachers to extend learning outside the classroom by building a community of life-long learners -- resides at the philosophical center of my experiences as a teacher. For the past seven years, I have communicated knowledge, shared ideas, and developed confidence in my ability to teach through, blogs, wikis, Web sites, podcasts, videos, and social networking sites. In the end, my students, their families, and the whole of anonymous world have joined with me in a larger conversation about the world in which we live. 

As teachers we can showcase student work, organize class projects, receive feedback on our ideas, and promote learning more efficiently through digital technologies. At Indiana University researchers find, "The reach of electronic communication beyond the classroom walls can ultimately improve the quality of the class meetings themselves." 

For me, there are two ways of thinking about using digital technologies in teaching: 

(1) as a personal way of organizing materials, researching, and planning, and (2) as a communication and presentation tool. Your decision to use digital technology in teaching depends heavily on your audience, teaching style, and the desired learning outcomes. 

If the investment it takes to learn a new technology far outweighs the potential benefits, then, engaging in new technologies may not be the best choice. At the same, there are some technologies that have become institutionalized in recent times. 

Know thy audience:

Many people new to teaching are overwhelmed with learning new software program. Although new presentation software can supplement learning and make your teaching more effective, often times, there is far too much energy and attention paid to product over process. In other words, the software becomes a distraction by taking us away from our main objective -- engaging students in a transformative learning experience. 

One of the most important aspects of teaching is developing an approach toward introducing students to new and challenging concepts, no matter the subject area. Technologies can help introduce and reinforce new concepts to student by making information available to them outside of the classroom. For example, it is possible to use a presentation technology such as Powerpoint in the classroom and then later link the same presentation to a class Web site or blog. 

First we must identify how we can tailor learning concepts and outcomes to the use of new technology. For Willingham (2006), "The theory that students learn more when content is presented in their best modality seems to make sense, seems to be supported by classroom experiences, and offers the hope of maximizing each child's learning by planning different lessons for each type of learner." New technologies allow us to diversify content to accommodate multiple intelligences. 

According to Reading Rockets, "The prevalence of technology in our daily lives and in the lives of our children requires the mastery of new literacies, including keyboarding, word processing, Internet research skills, multimedia production, and social networking. For educators, technology is proving to be valuable in support of effective reading and writing instruction, universal access to instructional materials, assessment, professional collaboration, and home-to-school communication."

Resources:

The Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard

Reading Rockets

Teacher's Technology Handbook Online

You can download this resource by going to the Web site.

Topics include:

 Technology Integration Lessons

 Why Integrate Technology

 Effective Technology Integration

 Planning Technology Integration Lessons

Technology Tools for Learning

 Implementing Integration Lessons 

Geopedia

National Geographic's Geopedia

Stuff worth thinking about

The Humans Behind the Google Money Machine

CrankyGeeks: The Internet is Killing You

12 Technologies We Can Do Without

Looks like war to me

How computer viruses work