Ed Comp Blog

This is just a little example of perhaps why many teachers are reluctant to use web based learning activities in the classroom.

I have made a few posts on my blog here and there. I have also made a few comments on others blogs over the past few weeks. I was starting to wonder why I wasn’t getting any comments on my own blogs until Gerry sent me an email saying that the comments feature on my blog wasn’t working. After some looking into it I fixed the problem.

This experience for me gave me an understanding as to why many teachers are reluctant to use this type of learning activity. Time is one of the greatest constraints in teaching and as a future teacher I can imagine how the prospect of errors such as this are a good deterrent when you can do something you know that works.

Like always I guess the key to it is to take some risks and over time with experience and practice we will be able to iron out the kinks and develop some successful learning episodes.

http://www.papert.org/

Most of you would have heard of Seymour Papert, if not we have all heard of Constructionism. This website contains some publications written by Papert and there are some excellent metaphors describing how computers should be used in schools. There are also some articles related to the state of Maine education initiative for all students to have laptops year 7 and 8 (http://www.maine.gov/portal/education/educ_tech.html).

The proposal for all students in 7th and 8th year is an idea that works and one that I particularly like, it is done in quiet a few Australian schools, PLC is one example. I would like to see this extended to 5th and 6th year students. It eliminates many problems associated with access and with improvements in high-speed wireless networks updating software, Internet access and the ability for the teacher to control usage is increased.

This would change role of the teacher in some respect but mainly changes the main media used from pen and paper to a computer. It would definitely change or at least add to the skill base that teachers will be required to have. Such as trouble shooting skills, knowledge of a range of software, technical knowledge of peripherals (cameras, scanners, projectors, burners etc..).

Have a look at the links and let me know what you think.

Log On Education: Elliot Soloway, Cathleen Norris, Phyllis Blumenfeld, Barry Fishman, Joseph Krajcik, and Ronald Marx.

This in an interesting article that is very pro Internet. It effectively highlights the importance of having the Internet and the ways that it can be used in the classroom. Webquests, Information ready-at-hand and Promoting Discourse are discussed as important features the Internet has to offer.

One aspect that the article mentions is the difficulty of searching the Internet when a search “returns too many hits (14,000 hits sorted alphabetically are simply unmanageable by 11-year-olds within a 50-minitue period)”. This point is slightly unfounded since most search engine sort search results by most relevant to the search string and in most cases you wont need to look through more that two pages of information. Students need to be taught how to effectively search for information in order to produce the most valid hits.

Keeping students from accessing inappropriate websites, keeping them and their identities safe from ‘online predators’ is an aspect that is touched on briefly by the article. These safety concerns are extremely important and need to be looked at carefully, the DETs virtual network for students and schools is a step in the right direction for keeping students safe but still allowing them the use of the internet.

Finally, I strongly agree with the articles message that the Internet is here to stay and it is too valuable not to be used in the classroom. Teachers will need to become familiar with its use and how the students can use it. A degree of risk taking will be needed and mistakes must be allowed for.

http://earth.google.com/

I’m sure many people have heard of this site before but if you haven’t, take a look. This site requires you to download a program of about 10 megabytes and currently on works on Windows XP (a Mac version is on the way). Those who have seen and used this program will know how powerful it is but for those who haven’t, Here is a quick run down, basically a satellite takes high resolution pictures as it orbits the earth and updates the program as it goes. It is so detailed that I could find my house, local pub, my work and see cars parked, zoomed over to New York, had a quick look at Bagdad then checked out NZ. This program is fun and has huge potential for the classroom.

If you have any comments, let me know.

http://www.smallblueprinter.com/

I found this site while on prac last semester, I haven’t had the opportunity to use it in the classroom yet but I think it will be useful in a Science and technology lesson based on built environments. I am particularly impressed with the ability to change views and also to walk through your design.

Let me know what you think.