Edunology

I have presented a number of workshops for teachers of all grade levels. The topic of these workshops range from technology infusion, to Smartboards 101, to developing your personal learning network. In each of these workshops we review best practices in instructional technology. We talk about differentiation, web 2.0, student publishing, authentic experiences, multimedia, and collaboration. The outcomes we discuss reflect a belief in promoting higher order thinking, creativity, and student learning.

In most cases the feedback from these discussions is very positive. The value of such practices is well received by participants. The sessions end with a high level of motivation and excitement. In almost every workshop however, a variation of this question is always asked, “What about typing?” “These projects are great but my students struggle with typing. They are hunting and pecking. It makes the completion of these projects sometimes take longer then they should. There is a also a level of frustration among students because of their typing skills?”

This is a very valid argument and a concern worth talking about. What about typing? What are we doing to provide our students with basic keyboarding skills? State core curriculum content standards are being revised. The model that best meets these standards is an infusion of technology into the curriculum areas. That means no more computer specials. The technology instruction is infused into the core subjects. Can a student really learn how to type by taking part in a once a week 40 minute computer class anyway? Even if that is the only thing taught all year? The research says no. In order to effectively teach keyboarding to students it must be part of the weekly curriculum. It must be taught for 90+ minutes at a minimum.  That means something has to be replaced by it?

What about cursive writing? This is an interesting thought and one that I am sure will drum up some controversy. How often do we use cursive writing anymore as adults? Do we see the use of cursive writing growing or diminishing? I know that I only write in cursive when signing my name. That is it! Most educators ask students to turn in assignments typed. With the advancement of technology we will be seeing more and more mobile devices in the classroom. Students will be accessing digital textbooks and collaborating electronically with peers, teachers, and global partnerships. I do not see too much cursive writing going on there?

My wife is a reading specialist and literacy coach. She argues that cursive writing assists in the development of motor skills and contributes to reading fluency. She also states that if it is not taught, it is an art that will be completely lost. I will have to gather some more research from her before i provide a more in-depth explanation in this blog post.

Can we replace the significant amount of time we spend teaching cursive writing with keyboarding? Which will have a positive impact on student learning? What are the repercussions of such an action?

My discussion here is based on my own thoughts. I have not cited specific research on the topic supporting the pros and cons. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic as I continue my research.

I have been spending  a lot of time lately thinking about the  future of “the textbook”. During the holiday season that  just passed there was a lot of press about E-book readers. The most familiar are the  Amazon Kindle and the Barnes and Noble Nook. I am facinated with the possibilities of such a technology. For those of you that are not aware, these devices are e-book readers. E-books are digital copies of textbooks. They can be read on a reader that  is about the size of a paperback book. E-book readers can hold a large number of books. They have batteries that last for days and the screen is such that they can be read in any type of light.

I am immediately focussed on education. Can such a device replace our current textbooks? There are some immediate advantages. These devices are compact and portable. The cost of the texts are significantly cheaper. In the  consumer market a new release  best selling hard cover that typically sells for $25.00 is $9.99 in e-book format. Information in e-book format can be updated quite simply. All that is required is a simple update to be downloaded. When Pluto is not a planet anymore the textbook is updated the  next day!

Currently these readers sell for $200 to $400.  The average student textbook is $60-$80 a piece. That means that each student is carrying around $400-$500 worth of textbooks at a minimum. The real kicker is these books are not dynamic. The content is essentially old by the time it reaches  the student. It is not living!

E-books are not only limited to e-book readers. They can be read on laptops, netbooks,and smartphones. In considering the classroom environment i am not sure that a device like a Kindle is the answer for students. Is there more value in providing a student with a full blown laptop or netbook? There is obviously price differences to consider.

I am starting to think that none of these options is the answer. The technology we seek may not  be available yet. We need a device with all of the features of a kindle as well as the web and keyboarding accessibility of a laptop. It needs to be mobile, powerful and compact. However, it must not inhibit the productivity of a student because of its size constraints. Of course we can not forget it must be cheap.

I am excited to see the next generation of tablets that are coming to market. I am most interested in the Apple Tablet. This may be a device that can do what we need it to do within the constraints we need for a school implementation. The problem I see is the price point will still be above the reach of many schools….. for now anyway.

I envision  each student with a mobile device loaded with each core text. This text is 3-dimensional. Students can sift through pages while following links to multi-media clips, resources on the web, instructor added annotations and content, audio recordings, and collaborative tools. They can highlight, copy/paste, bookmark, share links with other students, and communicate with others directly in the device. This device will be inexpensive, wifi enabled, ultra-portable and just the right size (somewhere between a netbook and Kindle????? It will operate by touch and voice. This device will transform the classroom and how we view textbooks.

I took part in a very interesting Edtech talk tonight on the topic of RSS feeds and their roll in education. One of the presenters mentioned the above question that she had been presented in a previous workshop. Do your students know how you learn?

I thought this was a very profound statement and an excellent transition  into introducing RSS feeds into your classroom. I use RSS feeds everyday. It has become a daily part of my professional and personal life. In fact, I wonder how I got by without them.

I was introduced in this discussion to some interesting ways that educators are implementing them with their students. I wanted to share some of these to anyone who is listening???

• One of the presenters discussed how she has all of her students create accounts on pageflakes. She then has each student create a tab for each topic they are researching for classes. She has them pull in RSS feeds on that topic. 
• Create a current events tab. They use this for their current events discussion.
• Create tabs that you can share with your students. Pageflakes and igoogle allow you to share tabs with other users. One teacher shares a tab on Cyberbullying. They use the updated feeds as topics for discussion.
• Create a Tab for your department or grade level and share it with them. Discuss updated content at grade level or team meetings.
• Have students pull in homework, assignments or links of interested generated by the teacher.
• Some sites allow you to save searches as RSS feeds. Students can save searches to their aggregators as feeds.

Those are some of the great ideas that was discussed during this session. I hope you find it useful. One of the topics that was brought up is the lack of RSS feeds on elementary sites. By using www.dapper.net you can create RSS feeds for any content on any page. It is a very cool tool. For elementary students you can create the feeds and the tab and then share it with them.