day 11 reading

Making Good Change Happen

This is a very good explanation for why schools have stalled in integrating technology. They have put all their money into equipment and hook-ups but not into the real need. Teachers and staff need to be trained, supported, and held accountable in their uses of technology. Teachers will not use technology until they buy into its power as a tool for learning. Many teachers don't see how technology can help them teach the state standards. When you try and make a program work you run into another problem: teachers are use to programs coming and going. They passively play along until the pressure if off and go back to the old and unchanged strategies. If teachers buy in, see how effective it is, and feel confident with technology then they will use it. It is up to schools to prioritise this, without it being just another trend in education or some other canned program.

day 10 readings

Evaluating Web Pages: Techniques to Apply & Questions to Ask UC Berkeley - Teaching Library Internet Workshops
&
Evaluating Web Sites: Criteria and Tools

A lot of what is covered here I am aware of. I think that the real issue is: are we giving students the skills and tools to evaluate web sites? One part that I often don't think about communicating to students is bias and motivation. Adults are good at sensing the underling motivation and purpose behind someones writing. Students tend to accept anything in print as fact. One of the things that we are suppose to be teaching in schools is about point of view and persuasive text. We can incorporate some of our reading goals into evaluating web sites. Also, it is good to keep up to date on what is out there and how to weed out questionable sources.

day 9 readings

Designing School Web Sites to Deliver
&
How To Plan Your School's Web Site
By Robert Kennedy, About.com

These articles provide a lot of good tips for making an appealing and effective school website. One of the areas that teachers and school get a little complacent over is copyright laws. There is a good explanation in the first site. Schools also tend to have sites low on utility. It is as if schools design web site just to say that they have one. The site has to be a valuable resource to the community it serves. Along with this it needs to be functional and appealing. There is nothing worse than a confusing and uncooperative website. If I were to make a school website I would go to these resources and the linked articles as well.

day 8 reading

Community Technology Centers: A National Movement to Close the Digital Divide
Working on closing the gap between the schools with technology and those without.
by Mark Sargent

I must admit that I really see the Technology divide as a little Marxist. It's like looking for one more reason to condemn the haves and fight for the have nots. I agree that in the 90's and early 2000's there was a troubling divide. If you could not afford a computer you were missing out on a big part of life and a necessary modern tool. Things have changed. If you were to compare a middle class school with a poor school you would see a technology divide. The poor school will have technology coming out of their ears and the middle school will be tech-light. What's worse is that many of the grants given poor schools is based on testing. As long as the students test low they get full tech dollars, so it's in their interest to maintain a technology divide.

Here is the real issue: are we responsible for teaching technology standards in our schools, and who are we accountable to. This article begins to answer this question. If a program is to work it needs to not only put technology in the hands of the have nots it has to teach them to use it and produce original products. I am impressed with the idea with starting with Art on the computers. Yes, get students in the mode of producer rather than consumer. Generation Y is defined as a group of consumers. American depends on creating and using technology on the cutting edge, and we will not stay there if we do not train our children to think in innovative ways. This will narrow and close any tech divide, and instead of rewarding failure it would produce and reward success.

day 6 reading

Child Safety on the Information Highway By, Lawrence J. Magid

It is impressive how connected we are today, and kids are the biggest users of communication and information. There are ways for kids, and adults, to be online and in-touch 24-7. What do we do about this, and what can we do about this? Is it wrong to give kids access to the Internet, and how much can we shelter them from harm? There are countless dangers out in the real-world and no one thing has more easy assess than the Internet to harm kids. Kids are victims of horrible crimes and corrupted by viewing adult material. What can we do? Is the Internet evil? Are filters enough? Should schools allow students to get online and make them more tech savvy than they already are?

The above paragraph reflects the concerns, and the paranoia, of many parents and administrators. There are legitimate concerns. If you talk to enough people you will hear stories of people getting into all kinds of trouble and harm. The above article is, I think, the balance of our concerns and offers helpful advice. It is not realistic to think that you can totally shelter a child in life, so why should you expect anything different on the Internet? You can, however, take some practical steps to protect them as you would in life. Just as you would guide a child in safety with driving a car or crossing a street you can guide and educate them on Internet safety. If you stick to some basic guidelines you can avoid the great majority of harm. But, there is always a risk. If you want your child to be able to drive then you have to accepts the risks. The Internet has risks but there are safety resources use them and you child will get more out of the richest information resource in history.

day 5 readings

This article traces the introduction and the beginnings of the integration of technology in Chicago schools. As in the following article there is a crucial next step that they are facing. One of the key difficulties facing them is that they really have no measurement in place as to the impact and value of technology in their schools. Also, principals have control over the funds given them for technology and can only be advised on how to spend it. At the time of the article Chicago schools had come a long way in getting technology into schools. With the help of Universities they are building a model for support that after a five year project will hopefully continue in the support of principals and teachers in training and advice on integrating technology. The problem is that there are too few people to help with multiple schools sharing one advisor. The hope is the this schools and others like it would have a measurement for the impact of technology and an active and effective training and support system. Unfortunately, if schools don't get it together, we may have to wait for the next generation to bring their computer skills with them.




The Next Step
Now that schools have technology, it's time to let the technology transform schooling
By Howard D. Mehlinger





The focus of the last ten years, or so, has been to add technology to schools. Now we are ready for the "next step" of integrating technology into the current curriculum and classroom activities. Many schools have large portions of their teaching staff who are ill prepared to use technology to enhance learning in their individual classrooms. It has been established by this article that teachers need to be brought along in stages to the ultimate goal. This takes time support staff and money. It is not enough to have a computer in a classroom you have to build computer use into the routine of the class. Computer use should be more than seeking out information or for drill and practice. Computer use should involve problem solving and critical thinking skills. Computers help analyze and manage information putting students more in the place of managing their own learning. This all requires "planning" on the part of school and a willingness to train teachers and support them in an ongoing basis.

day 4 reading

Teacher Helpers by Kathleen Schrock

This is a great resource for teachers who are either getting started with WebQuests. There are links to example and tutorials, and a real well rounded explanation for WebQuests. What I didn't know about was that there are different types of WebQuests. I have thought more in terms of the long-term WebQuest, but there is also a short-term version that focuses on facing the always daunting files of information facing students when they get on the Web. Students desperately need to know how to navigate information and pull out important facts, main ideas, and the supporting details that support them.