It has been a while since I have updated my blog, but the drought is now over! I took a bit of a hiatus after the completion of my first semester of grad school. New classes have since begun. They don't require me to update this blog anymore for class credit, yet I want to have a place where I can record new ideas that I discover throughout my educational journey. In the form of a blog, I always have access to the information but am able to share it with other enlightened educators out there as well. It seems that each day I learn about a different resource, and though I created a Note on my iPhone which includes a list of websites and other technology-related resources I have learned about, it lacks any detail or additional innovative ideas for how the items could be used in classroom instruction.
This week, as I worked on a strategic planning assignment that focuses on blended learning environments, I learned about an app called: ShowMe. With this application, teachers can create digital lessons and share them with students. Essentially, this app allows an iPad to act as an interactive whiteboard, but the lesson is recorded. Students can watch as changes are made on the whiteboard and can hear the audio explaining these changes.
In my experiences teaching mathematics in the elementary classroom, I realized there are multiple algorithms which can be used to solve problems. Yet, often when children take home assignments, their parents only know one strategy for solving and it is not the one we covered at school. This is no fault of their own but rather how many traditional classrooms of old were structured. Being able to record a lesson would be helpful for both students and parents alike. These lessons could also be shared with other teachers who might be looking for a new and innovative way to get students to understand a particular topic or concept. I used to teach lattice multiplication in a way that took students to the beach, so to speak. No, they didn't actually take a field trip to the beach, but when I learned how to do the algorithm myself, the boxes reminded me of beach towels laying across the sand. This strategy of teaching the concept resonated with the students, but it would have been useful for them to be able to review the lesson digitally if they were stuck on how to complete multiplication problems using lattice multiplication while at school or at home. I see a lot of potential for using the ShowMe app in the classroom. There are many instructional videos available through the app that have been created by other teachers as well and that can be downloaded for use. Personally, I think there is more significance if the tutorial is being posted by a child's own teacher.
Another resource that I discovered this week while working, actually, on the same project mentioned above, is a website called Bookshare. It is free for any United States citizens who have qualified print disabilities. Students with any kind of visual impairment automatically qualify, and children with physical or learning abilities that directly affect their use of print materials are also eligible. For students who do not have a print disability, an annual individual membership comes at a cost of fifty dollars with a twenty-five dollar set-up fee. This seems a relatively small price to pay for a student who really struggles in the area of reading but who may not have a qualifying diagnosis to access the resource otherwise. Bookshare books can be listened to aloud with the option of having the words highlighted on the screen as they are read. Fonts can also be enlarged and books can be put into digital or print braille forms. I do not know if there will ever be a reason for me to use or to recommend this resource, but I definitely thought it was worth remembering. In the past I have used TrueFlix, BookFlix, and TumbleBooks - each of which can be accessed for free through many local library systems. They are available to anyone, and provide authentic children's literature read aloud with the text highlighted. This helps to foster a love for books in a non-threatening way, particularly for students who may struggle with reading, and works to build fluency in all students.
That's all for now. Until next time...
Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Monday, December 7, 2015
Final Product Pitch
These past two weeks in my Instructional Applications of the Internet course have involved me and my classmates developing an idea for a mobile application, which I mentioned briefly in my previous post. I spent many hours putting together a website on Weebly that provides a full description of my idea as well as reasons for why it is needed and the theoretical ideologies behind its creation. Since I devoted so much time and attention to it this week, I will keep this particular blog entry pretty short.
Since I had already organized my thoughts over the past several weeks, I wanted to use the opportunity to put them all together into a final product pitch as a way to also find new resources. Not only did these allow me to bring my idea to life in a creative way, but they helped me to discover and play around with some new technology related tools. One website that I found is called Aurasma. This free resource allows users to very easily create their own augmented reality. All you have to do is upload a base "trigger" photo and then upload a second image that will appear when you use the accompanying app for augmented reality. I actually created my own images first on Adobe Photoshop (which I learned how to use this semester in my Designing Visuals for Instruction course) that would function as posters advertising my Growing Dendrites application. When you open the Aurasma app and hold a mobile device over the images, the augmented reality appears in the form of animated images. It is such a neat Web 2.0 tool that I never knew anything about. I read that users can also use videos as overlays. Just think of the educational possibilities! How about an interactive word wall? Or a classroom newspaper that comes to life in certain places? The Aurasma images can be printed and used just like QR codes.
Another amazing website I found is called Voki. It is completely free to use, although you can upgrade in order to access additional features. Frankly, however, I think what they offer for no cost is more than sufficient for classroom use. If you are not familiar with it, Voki allows users to select a character. There are many to choose from and include humans, animals, monsters, and more. Once users have selected a character, they can make them speak by typing in what they would like them to say or by recording their own voices. I chose five different characters and had them provide testimonials for my product that would help give people an idea for how different individuals might use it (i.e. principals, teachers, students, etc.).
If you would like to check out the website, please visit: http://itecgradschool.weebly.com/. And if you are looking for more ideas on how to use either Voki or Aurasma in the classroom, it is all but a Google search away and only limited by your own imagination!
Until next time...
Since I had already organized my thoughts over the past several weeks, I wanted to use the opportunity to put them all together into a final product pitch as a way to also find new resources. Not only did these allow me to bring my idea to life in a creative way, but they helped me to discover and play around with some new technology related tools. One website that I found is called Aurasma. This free resource allows users to very easily create their own augmented reality. All you have to do is upload a base "trigger" photo and then upload a second image that will appear when you use the accompanying app for augmented reality. I actually created my own images first on Adobe Photoshop (which I learned how to use this semester in my Designing Visuals for Instruction course) that would function as posters advertising my Growing Dendrites application. When you open the Aurasma app and hold a mobile device over the images, the augmented reality appears in the form of animated images. It is such a neat Web 2.0 tool that I never knew anything about. I read that users can also use videos as overlays. Just think of the educational possibilities! How about an interactive word wall? Or a classroom newspaper that comes to life in certain places? The Aurasma images can be printed and used just like QR codes.
Another amazing website I found is called Voki. It is completely free to use, although you can upgrade in order to access additional features. Frankly, however, I think what they offer for no cost is more than sufficient for classroom use. If you are not familiar with it, Voki allows users to select a character. There are many to choose from and include humans, animals, monsters, and more. Once users have selected a character, they can make them speak by typing in what they would like them to say or by recording their own voices. I chose five different characters and had them provide testimonials for my product that would help give people an idea for how different individuals might use it (i.e. principals, teachers, students, etc.).
If you would like to check out the website, please visit: http://itecgradschool.weebly.com/. And if you are looking for more ideas on how to use either Voki or Aurasma in the classroom, it is all but a Google search away and only limited by your own imagination!
Until next time...
Monday, November 30, 2015
Into the Shark Tank
For the last few weeks of my Instructional Applications of the Internet course, I will be working on creating the final product pitch on my idea for a mobile learning application. As I put it all together, I will keep in mind the clever and creative techniques involved in Kickstarter campaigns and Shark Tank spiels. This endeavor is much different from anything that I have done before, as it requires me to put new skills to the test. My expertise exists in the world of education, so I have never needed to market a product as I might have been required to do if I had majored in business. I thought it would be a good idea to use this blog post as a place to share some tips that I have gathered through Internet research on worthwhile techniques that can be utilized to sell people on a product. If you are an educator reading this blog post, you may be wondering when these would ever be useful to you. This made me think about ways in which teachers market without necessarily recognizing that it is what they are doing. How about selling students on a new book? What about getting parents to support a project that you would like to do with your class? Or trying to get grant funding for a special endeavor? To accomplish all of these things with success, these tips could come in handy.
One suggestion that I found to be useful is that moving pictures can be an especially effective way to get people interested in a product. YouTube videos, animated GIFs, and clips from Instagram or Vine are one way to accomplish this. Not only does the visual component pull people in and help them to better understand a product, but it is also how younger generations navigate the world. Check out this Vine video promoting Oreo cookies:
It is brief and simple, yet it gives viewers a quick idea for how to use their Oreo cookies in a way that will make their mouths water.
But moving pictures are not the only way to persuade people to buy into a product. Infographics are another effective method to both show and explain a product or to provide potential customers with an understanding of why it is needed. If you were trying to sell a mobile learning application that would help students with spelling, an infographic with specific statistics regarding the real struggle that students have with that subject area would be warranted. These can then be easily pinned, posted, or shared through many different forums. I am sure you are familiar with infographics, but below is one that provides facts about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Think of the potential it would have if you were selling a product that is environmentally friendly, such as a purse made out of recycled materials. This infographic would help viewers to better understand the idea behind the product and would also help to convince them of its importance.
The ideas in this blog post are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of creative marketing strategies, but there is also the power of memes and online comic strips. These can be made for free and easily shared through the Internet. Check out: http://memegenerator.net/ to create your own clever meme. If you are interested in designing a comic strip that would help consumers to know more about your product or to get a clearer picture as to why you think it is important, check out Pixton. Here is an example of one to help you get a better idea of what it looks like:
It is now time for me to use these ideas to begin to put together the final product pitch for my proposed Growing Dendrites application. I hope they may be of use to you someday in a marketing endeavor.
Until next time...
One suggestion that I found to be useful is that moving pictures can be an especially effective way to get people interested in a product. YouTube videos, animated GIFs, and clips from Instagram or Vine are one way to accomplish this. Not only does the visual component pull people in and help them to better understand a product, but it is also how younger generations navigate the world. Check out this Vine video promoting Oreo cookies:
It is brief and simple, yet it gives viewers a quick idea for how to use their Oreo cookies in a way that will make their mouths water.
But moving pictures are not the only way to persuade people to buy into a product. Infographics are another effective method to both show and explain a product or to provide potential customers with an understanding of why it is needed. If you were trying to sell a mobile learning application that would help students with spelling, an infographic with specific statistics regarding the real struggle that students have with that subject area would be warranted. These can then be easily pinned, posted, or shared through many different forums. I am sure you are familiar with infographics, but below is one that provides facts about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Think of the potential it would have if you were selling a product that is environmentally friendly, such as a purse made out of recycled materials. This infographic would help viewers to better understand the idea behind the product and would also help to convince them of its importance.
The ideas in this blog post are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of creative marketing strategies, but there is also the power of memes and online comic strips. These can be made for free and easily shared through the Internet. Check out: http://memegenerator.net/ to create your own clever meme. If you are interested in designing a comic strip that would help consumers to know more about your product or to get a clearer picture as to why you think it is important, check out Pixton. Here is an example of one to help you get a better idea of what it looks like:
It is now time for me to use these ideas to begin to put together the final product pitch for my proposed Growing Dendrites application. I hope they may be of use to you someday in a marketing endeavor.
Until next time...
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Digital Storytelling at Its Finest
In the twenty-first century, many educators seek exciting new ways in which students can use technology to publish their final pieces of writing. Sure, Google Docs is a great way to word process and have work saved to the cloud, but there is nothing all that interesting about the pieces created with it. Certainly it has its many advantages in the world of education and beyond, but often young students (and might I suggest even older students) like being able to add pictures to their writing to bring it to life.
This week in Instructional Applications of the Internet (one of the graduate level courses that I am currently taking through Kent State University) we were asked to create a use case scenario. For this, we had to explore our mobile learning application ideas from the viewpoint of a person who might be using our apps and put it into the format of a story. The professor of the class encouraged us to use visuals to help tell our stories. I decided to use a digital storytelling website called: StoryJumper to accomplish this, and was pleased with the final product.
One of the students in my class last year actually introduced me to the StoryJumper website, and it is the best I have found for digital storytelling to date. Since it was near the end of the school year that my student suggested the site, students had a very limited time to explore it. This project is the first time I have been back to investigate the website further and to actually try it out myself. The greatest advantage of StoryJumper (though there are many) is that it is completely free to join. Once you have signed up, you can create a class for all of your students. The nice thing about this is that the students' work can be saved after each session. There are many digital storytelling websites in which there is no way for users to save what they were working on to return to at a later time. Another advantage is that teachers can set it up so that students are only able to work on their pieces at a certain time. This way, if the teacher wants to use the finished pieces for a grade, they can rest assured that the student did not log on to work at home with the help of an adult or sibling.
Once students have logged in, they can begin to create their books. Another huge advantage of StoryJumper over many other digital storytelling resources is that there is a wide variety of background scenes and props to choose from. And if users cannot find what they are looking for in the preloaded collection of visuals, they can upload anything they want from their personal picture gallery. In creating my use case scenario, I employed a combination of my own uploaded visuals as well as ones that I found on StoryJumper itself.
So at this point you might be wondering: how can such a great resource not come with a cost? The answer is that the company makes its money on teachers and parents buying hardback or paperback copies of the books. But the digital versions of the stories can be shared as links and even embedded onto websites for nothing. You can see my final product at: http://itecgradschool.weebly.com/use-case-scenario.html. If you are an educator and have not heard of this website before, I guarantee that the wheels in your head are spinning as you think of all the wonderful educational possibilities.
This week in Instructional Applications of the Internet (one of the graduate level courses that I am currently taking through Kent State University) we were asked to create a use case scenario. For this, we had to explore our mobile learning application ideas from the viewpoint of a person who might be using our apps and put it into the format of a story. The professor of the class encouraged us to use visuals to help tell our stories. I decided to use a digital storytelling website called: StoryJumper to accomplish this, and was pleased with the final product.
One of the students in my class last year actually introduced me to the StoryJumper website, and it is the best I have found for digital storytelling to date. Since it was near the end of the school year that my student suggested the site, students had a very limited time to explore it. This project is the first time I have been back to investigate the website further and to actually try it out myself. The greatest advantage of StoryJumper (though there are many) is that it is completely free to join. Once you have signed up, you can create a class for all of your students. The nice thing about this is that the students' work can be saved after each session. There are many digital storytelling websites in which there is no way for users to save what they were working on to return to at a later time. Another advantage is that teachers can set it up so that students are only able to work on their pieces at a certain time. This way, if the teacher wants to use the finished pieces for a grade, they can rest assured that the student did not log on to work at home with the help of an adult or sibling.
Once students have logged in, they can begin to create their books. Another huge advantage of StoryJumper over many other digital storytelling resources is that there is a wide variety of background scenes and props to choose from. And if users cannot find what they are looking for in the preloaded collection of visuals, they can upload anything they want from their personal picture gallery. In creating my use case scenario, I employed a combination of my own uploaded visuals as well as ones that I found on StoryJumper itself.
So at this point you might be wondering: how can such a great resource not come with a cost? The answer is that the company makes its money on teachers and parents buying hardback or paperback copies of the books. But the digital versions of the stories can be shared as links and even embedded onto websites for nothing. You can see my final product at: http://itecgradschool.weebly.com/use-case-scenario.html. If you are an educator and have not heard of this website before, I guarantee that the wheels in your head are spinning as you think of all the wonderful educational possibilities.
Until next time...
Saturday, November 14, 2015
VivaVideo: Bringing Learning to Life
This week in my Instructional Applications of the Internet course, we were asked to explore active learning. It is an approach to teaching in which the students are engaged in purposeful activities. They are not just idle bodies passively listening to lectures, which is the norm in traditional learning environments. Instead, students are given opportunities to explore various concepts and ideas in a hands-on, minds-on manner. I know that my most memorable and effective learning experiences as a student were those in which I was able to interact with the content or create something. It only makes sense for educators to provide those types of experiences for the students in their classrooms, because we all know that they work.
In addition to reading about active learning, we were asked to create an "elevator pitch." Essentially, we had to figure out a way to record ourselves giving a brief (30 to 60 second) overview of the ideas we have for a mobile learning application that we think would benefit both teachers and students. At first I struggled with how I wanted to develop my video and make it unique. Then, I found an excellent mobile application that was just the ticket. It is called: VivaVideo, and can be downloaded for free or the pro version can be purchased for a one time fee of $2.99.
With VivaVideo, people have the ability to easily record themselves using a mobile device. They can then add all kinds of personal touches. This includes changing the filter through which videos are recorded to make them look as though they were filmed at dusk or by an old school camera or on black and white film. Those are just a few of the options. Music can be added to videos as well, along with text, stickers, sounds effects, and more. The pro version of the application gives users their videos without the VivaVideo watermark and does not limit how long the recorded films can be.
While the VivaVideo application worked great for this week's assignment, I recognize its potential in an active learning classroom. There are limitless ways in which educators could use it with students, regardless of what subjects they teach. Students could write their own stories in Language Arts and then be recorded as they act them out. They could archive their lab work in science throughout a semester in order to look back at it and draw conclusions. In music, the students could write their own compositions and then share them with the class. In this day and age, there are many ways in which students can video record themselves, but this application has the added advantage of including many different editing effects. If your administrator has asked to see a lesson in which the students are active and constructing their own knowledge, remember the potential of VivaVideo and see what kinds of interesting learning opportunities it leads to.
Until next time...
In addition to reading about active learning, we were asked to create an "elevator pitch." Essentially, we had to figure out a way to record ourselves giving a brief (30 to 60 second) overview of the ideas we have for a mobile learning application that we think would benefit both teachers and students. At first I struggled with how I wanted to develop my video and make it unique. Then, I found an excellent mobile application that was just the ticket. It is called: VivaVideo, and can be downloaded for free or the pro version can be purchased for a one time fee of $2.99.
With VivaVideo, people have the ability to easily record themselves using a mobile device. They can then add all kinds of personal touches. This includes changing the filter through which videos are recorded to make them look as though they were filmed at dusk or by an old school camera or on black and white film. Those are just a few of the options. Music can be added to videos as well, along with text, stickers, sounds effects, and more. The pro version of the application gives users their videos without the VivaVideo watermark and does not limit how long the recorded films can be.
While the VivaVideo application worked great for this week's assignment, I recognize its potential in an active learning classroom. There are limitless ways in which educators could use it with students, regardless of what subjects they teach. Students could write their own stories in Language Arts and then be recorded as they act them out. They could archive their lab work in science throughout a semester in order to look back at it and draw conclusions. In music, the students could write their own compositions and then share them with the class. In this day and age, there are many ways in which students can video record themselves, but this application has the added advantage of including many different editing effects. If your administrator has asked to see a lesson in which the students are active and constructing their own knowledge, remember the potential of VivaVideo and see what kinds of interesting learning opportunities it leads to.
Until next time...
Monday, November 9, 2015
Learning Unleashed
One subject that has always interested me is sociology. In fact it interests me so much that I minored in it during my undergraduate studies. Education ties into it, but sociology expands into the study of other social institutions as well. My first exposure to the subject came in high school when I had a beginner's sociology class in my schedule. One of the assignments that I remember we had to complete was a paper that explained which side we were on in the nature versus nurture debate. I found that I did not side completely with one or the other, and wrote my paper to explain why I believe that humans are who they are as a result of both the environments they grew up in as well as their genetics.
When it comes to learning theories, I feel much the same way: unable to completely side with one over another. For years, educational psychologists and theorists have debated about how students learn. Whereas the likes of B.F. Skinner held fast to the belief that a stimulus in our environments is what directly affects our learning behavior, Lev Vygotsky supported the idea that humans learn as a result of their social interactions with adult teachers or mentors. As I was reviewing the four broad human learning "perspectives" for my Instructional Applications of the Internet class this week, I had the same thought that I did in my high school sociology class, which is that there is no right answer or absolute truth about how people learn. Each perspective has its own merits, which I say based on my own teaching experiences.
In my classroom, I used sticker charts and a ticket system to reinforce positive behavior and found that it worked like a charm for the majority of my students. They knew the rules and expectations, and received either a ticket or sticker for making good behavioral choices, such as helping a friend, offering to clean up materials without being asking, actively participating during a lesson, or working quietly on given assignments. Full sticker charts, or a certain number of tickets, resulted in special rewards. In a classroom environment full of attentive, helpful, and non-disruptive students, the opportunities for learning are optimal. As a result of my own personal teaching experiences as just described, I agree with the main ideas behind the behaviorist learning theory. In a nutshell, the theory states that an environment can shape learning and behavior. I found this to be true.
However, I also have observed learning happening cognitively. This theory states that learning and the processing of information comes from the learner doing a combination of retrieving, comparing, storing, and organizing information mentally. It also states that new learning is connected to what people already know. Students always had the most success in my classroom when they were able to connect what they already knew to content they had never encountered before. For instance, an understanding of how a new seed grows through the process of pollination was stronger by those who recalled to memory an experiment in which we had dissected lima beans and identified their specific features. Personally, I know that my own learning is enhanced by considering what I already understand, and I am constantly storing and comparing new ideas.
The humanistic theory focuses on the role that emotions play in learning. It supports the idea that a person's choices, sense of responsibility, and motivation influence what and how they learn. In recent years, this theory has once again shifted into focus in the educational community. Angela Duckworth's studies on grit directly relate with this theory as does Paul Tough's bestselling book: How Children Succeed. Though it is clear that a person's personality and emotions play a part in how they do (or do not) succeed academically, it remains unclear what role parents and teachers can play to affect or change a child's grit factor.
Finally, the social learning theory states that humans learn best in group activities. In my classroom, there were always plenty of opportunities for collaboration amongst the students. When students work in groups, they are forced to share ideas and learn from one another. While I saw the power that many minds working together can have, I also recognized the importance of students working on their own to construct knowledge or learning alongside a mentor teacher.
To string everything I just mentioned in this post together: my overall belief is that there is no single learning theory that trumps the rest. All four perspectives were seen at work in my classroom. Educators must keep in mind that a balance is necessary. Though they must consider the environments of their classrooms and how it affects behavior and learning, they also have to promote grit, collaboration, and constructivist thinking.
Until next time...
When it comes to learning theories, I feel much the same way: unable to completely side with one over another. For years, educational psychologists and theorists have debated about how students learn. Whereas the likes of B.F. Skinner held fast to the belief that a stimulus in our environments is what directly affects our learning behavior, Lev Vygotsky supported the idea that humans learn as a result of their social interactions with adult teachers or mentors. As I was reviewing the four broad human learning "perspectives" for my Instructional Applications of the Internet class this week, I had the same thought that I did in my high school sociology class, which is that there is no right answer or absolute truth about how people learn. Each perspective has its own merits, which I say based on my own teaching experiences.
In my classroom, I used sticker charts and a ticket system to reinforce positive behavior and found that it worked like a charm for the majority of my students. They knew the rules and expectations, and received either a ticket or sticker for making good behavioral choices, such as helping a friend, offering to clean up materials without being asking, actively participating during a lesson, or working quietly on given assignments. Full sticker charts, or a certain number of tickets, resulted in special rewards. In a classroom environment full of attentive, helpful, and non-disruptive students, the opportunities for learning are optimal. As a result of my own personal teaching experiences as just described, I agree with the main ideas behind the behaviorist learning theory. In a nutshell, the theory states that an environment can shape learning and behavior. I found this to be true.
Students would take their tickets from out of the apple,
which you can see in the photo if you look closely!
However, I also have observed learning happening cognitively. This theory states that learning and the processing of information comes from the learner doing a combination of retrieving, comparing, storing, and organizing information mentally. It also states that new learning is connected to what people already know. Students always had the most success in my classroom when they were able to connect what they already knew to content they had never encountered before. For instance, an understanding of how a new seed grows through the process of pollination was stronger by those who recalled to memory an experiment in which we had dissected lima beans and identified their specific features. Personally, I know that my own learning is enhanced by considering what I already understand, and I am constantly storing and comparing new ideas.
The humanistic theory focuses on the role that emotions play in learning. It supports the idea that a person's choices, sense of responsibility, and motivation influence what and how they learn. In recent years, this theory has once again shifted into focus in the educational community. Angela Duckworth's studies on grit directly relate with this theory as does Paul Tough's bestselling book: How Children Succeed. Though it is clear that a person's personality and emotions play a part in how they do (or do not) succeed academically, it remains unclear what role parents and teachers can play to affect or change a child's grit factor.
Finally, the social learning theory states that humans learn best in group activities. In my classroom, there were always plenty of opportunities for collaboration amongst the students. When students work in groups, they are forced to share ideas and learn from one another. While I saw the power that many minds working together can have, I also recognized the importance of students working on their own to construct knowledge or learning alongside a mentor teacher.
To string everything I just mentioned in this post together: my overall belief is that there is no single learning theory that trumps the rest. All four perspectives were seen at work in my classroom. Educators must keep in mind that a balance is necessary. Though they must consider the environments of their classrooms and how it affects behavior and learning, they also have to promote grit, collaboration, and constructivist thinking.
Until next time...
Monday, November 2, 2015
Mobile Mania: Changing the Way We Teach
According to Thomas Cochrane and Roger Bateman (2010) in their article: Smartphones Give You Wings, there were more than 1.5 billion iPhone applications available in 2009. It is now six years later, so we can assume that number is even greater. At this point in time, we can find mobile applications on our phones, laptops, and other such portable devices that help us to do our shopping, manage our bills, find the best happy hour specials, and know exactly how to dress based on the most current weather conditions. And this, of course, is just the tip of the iceberg. Many people use mobile applications for pure entertainment purposes, with literally millions of games and social networking capabilities to choose from. You have seen it: the guy waiting next to you for his oil to be changed while playing Temple Run on his phone or the girl in the chair next to you at the salon perusing Facebook. Maybe you have even been that person. Whatever the case, there is no escaping the fact that mobile applications have taken the world by storm and are not going away anytime soon. As educators, we need to find ways to use mobile applications effectively in the classroom and to help young people recognize them as being useful learning tools as much as being fun things to play on. Children have been exposed to mobile technology from a very young age, but how they view the devices is based in large part on how they have used them at home.
In my classroom last school year, each third grade student had his or her own personal Chromebook to use each day. The problem was that several students viewed these devices as toys rather than pieces of important learning equipment. They were more concerned about their background pictures when their time spent using them was supposed to be dedicated to such things as research or math practice. We, as educators, have to figure out ways in which to change this mindset. Modeling appropriate usage of mobile devices for learning purposes on a routine basis, and making a clear distinction between how mobile devices might be used at home versus how they are expected to be used at school, are a few ways in which we can do this.
Yet, teachers have an even greater job to do than just modeling and explaining the expectations for using mobile devices. Yes, they have to be cognizant of the fact that students view mobile devices a certain way based on their home experiences and address that, but they have to make sure the ways they have students using the mobile devices is pedagogically sound. Case in point: our school purchased a classroom set of iPads a few years back. Teachers could sign out the cart in order to give their students time using the technology. The problem is that in many cases the devices were used as somewhat of an after thought. They were available for students who finished an assignment early, for instance. Students were getting onto applications related to school topics, such as fractions and phonics, but it did not mean that true learning was taking place. I have found that a great deal of mobile applications are terribly designed and have little, if any, educational value even though they claim to. In my opinion, and speaking as an "instructional technologist," mobile applications that are being used by students in the classroom should not be only for purposes of rote memorization or to fill time. They should be carefully selected and designed to make students think at higher levels.
One example of how I have used a mobile application successfully in the classroom was for a writing project. Students had read the book: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (one of my personal favorites!) and then had to develop a food-related wacky weather report. They accessed the free application called: Popplet, and used it to brainstorm and organize their ideas. When it came time to formulate the actual report into complete sentences, the students were able to open Popplet on their devices and pull up their brainstorming webs to guide their composition. Not only did this help to solidify the steps involved in the writing process, but it was motivating for the students as well. They enjoyed using the technology, but were doing so in a way that required creative and developed thoughts. The same cannot be said for many of the "educational" games that are available. This is not to say that I have always used technology perfectly and in the most educationally sound ways, but I try to make a conscious effort in doing so. In many ways it is trial and error. Still, I strive to make mobile applications an integral part of a lesson, rather than using them as backup tools to fill extra time. It is my belief that more teachers (myself included!) need training that would give them mobile application choices which are known to promote higher level thinking, and ideas on how to incorporate them into lessons. In one of my recent course readings, a great point was made that connects to all of this: we need to use technology to actually change (and improve) the way we teach and not just use it to instruct in the same old ways as always or in the limited ways in which we might understand them.
Until next time...
In my classroom last school year, each third grade student had his or her own personal Chromebook to use each day. The problem was that several students viewed these devices as toys rather than pieces of important learning equipment. They were more concerned about their background pictures when their time spent using them was supposed to be dedicated to such things as research or math practice. We, as educators, have to figure out ways in which to change this mindset. Modeling appropriate usage of mobile devices for learning purposes on a routine basis, and making a clear distinction between how mobile devices might be used at home versus how they are expected to be used at school, are a few ways in which we can do this.
Yet, teachers have an even greater job to do than just modeling and explaining the expectations for using mobile devices. Yes, they have to be cognizant of the fact that students view mobile devices a certain way based on their home experiences and address that, but they have to make sure the ways they have students using the mobile devices is pedagogically sound. Case in point: our school purchased a classroom set of iPads a few years back. Teachers could sign out the cart in order to give their students time using the technology. The problem is that in many cases the devices were used as somewhat of an after thought. They were available for students who finished an assignment early, for instance. Students were getting onto applications related to school topics, such as fractions and phonics, but it did not mean that true learning was taking place. I have found that a great deal of mobile applications are terribly designed and have little, if any, educational value even though they claim to. In my opinion, and speaking as an "instructional technologist," mobile applications that are being used by students in the classroom should not be only for purposes of rote memorization or to fill time. They should be carefully selected and designed to make students think at higher levels.
One example of how I have used a mobile application successfully in the classroom was for a writing project. Students had read the book: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (one of my personal favorites!) and then had to develop a food-related wacky weather report. They accessed the free application called: Popplet, and used it to brainstorm and organize their ideas. When it came time to formulate the actual report into complete sentences, the students were able to open Popplet on their devices and pull up their brainstorming webs to guide their composition. Not only did this help to solidify the steps involved in the writing process, but it was motivating for the students as well. They enjoyed using the technology, but were doing so in a way that required creative and developed thoughts. The same cannot be said for many of the "educational" games that are available. This is not to say that I have always used technology perfectly and in the most educationally sound ways, but I try to make a conscious effort in doing so. In many ways it is trial and error. Still, I strive to make mobile applications an integral part of a lesson, rather than using them as backup tools to fill extra time. It is my belief that more teachers (myself included!) need training that would give them mobile application choices which are known to promote higher level thinking, and ideas on how to incorporate them into lessons. In one of my recent course readings, a great point was made that connects to all of this: we need to use technology to actually change (and improve) the way we teach and not just use it to instruct in the same old ways as always or in the limited ways in which we might understand them.
Until next time...
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