Digital Blog Post #C Chapters 5 + 7

Chapter 5, page 127

Evaluating Online Information

After reading this section of the textbook I started to think about the college classes I have taken in the past and how several of my professors told me, "Make sure to use a credible site...". When I was younger I always just thought that the internet sites I looked at were informative and correct. It was not until early in college that I really understood how much garbage was on the internet, not to mention I realized that I did not use search engines properly. No one had ever taught me how to use "keywords" or how the results would differ if I put a search in a search bar with or without quotation marks around it. 

The textbook states, "Google revolutionized how people conduct online searching and in so doing became the dominant search engine in the world." (Maloy). I frequently use the "image" setting on my Google search engine because I have the ability to see the website as well as an image from a website. I use both things to determine if I want to investigate the site farther or not. I have also used the Google search engine on my phone, which I imagine many students do every day. As I move towards finishing my degree in education I think that I will have to learn a lot more about how search engines work on phones and tablets. These devices are how a lot of students connect online today so I do not want to be left in the dark ages. 

Chapter 5, page 128

Censorship

"Censorship means that material deemed offensive is banned from a school. But banning material is a notoriously slippery slope." (Maloy). At our college we have an occasional event called "Banned Book Week" or the "Banned Book Club" which is hosted by the humanities department. At the club, a book that was considered "trash" or "offensive" for its time period is read by several students and faculty and then discussed and reflected on. I have learned a great deal about history, America, government, social classes, etiquette, capitalism, religion, and other subjects of interest from attending these Banned Book Events. Although material should be age appropriate for students, I believe that there has been some unnecessary censorship in our school system in the past. I hope that the administration at the school I will eventually work for will be more open minded and want to keep history in context and to remain faithfully honest with students. There was, for example, a little problem at my friend's son's high school recently where the students began reading The Diary of Anne Frank, but when a parent complained about some content in the book, the students were given a censored version of the book. This has happened in several other schools across the U.S. as well. In the following video from youtube, the user The Young Turks posted, included a complaint that a parent had over this particular book when their seventh grade student was assigned to read it for a class. Maybe seventh grade is a bit young for this book, but I think that high school students can handle this material. It is an interesting thing to think about when we discuss censorship.

 I feel that this particular story must be read unedited and unaltered because it is a historical piece. If the material in the book is too adult for the high school students then a different book should have been chosen altogether. Censorship can be a good thing, but it can also be used incorrectly in order to promote ignorance. 

 I do want to say that I feel censorship when it comes to how students use the internet is often times necessary. There are a lot of real world dangers on the internet that are not in the pages of a book, so certain sites or links should not be accessible to students especially in a classroom setting.  

 Chapter 7, page 179

Criteria for Evaluating Educational Software

I really appreciate this section of the textbook. As Maloy states, "One way to identify good educational software is to recognize what constitutes poor software" (Maloy) and then gives Papert's three qualifications for poor software.  I feel as if a lot of parents feel that using computers to educate children is a silly idea, but provided that the programs are being used correctly and provided that the programs are good to begin with, computers can be a very helpful thing to students. 

The textbook goes on to say that there are evaluation instruments that teachers can use to grade software. I am happy that those exist because when I begin teaching I will need all the help from experienced teachers that I can get. 

A quote I really enjoyed from this section is, "teachers need to first answer the following question: ' Will the child program the computer or will the computer program the child?' "(Maloy). 

Photo created by Tina Emmett on Tagxedo.com

Resources:

Maloy, R. W. (2011). Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon

Tagxedo.com

 Youtube.com user The Young Turks

Digital Blog Post #B Chapter 2 + 3

"Visual Learning and Visual Literacy" page 40

When I read this part of the text I immediately thought about the old pull-down maps of the world that were used in my elementary and middle school classrooms. In school could see the countries and the pastel colors, and I could see the words that labeled most of the oceans, but because I have bad vision and always wore glasses, I struggled to see most of the other information. Staring at flat faded maps was pretty boring too. A lot of the kids would stare out the window or play around in their desks. The teacher would use a long pointer to slap the part of the map we were supposed to be paying attention to and I would get lost sometimes. These maps were pretty much the only way for a student to learn geography at that time. Fast forward fifteen or so years and a lot of classrooms have internet access. Students can look at Googlemaps, HarvardMaps, or MapsofWorld online. These three sites that I listed are not only useful and easy to read but a teacher or student can print out the map they want to keep. The student can magnify the map images on the computer too so that they are easier to read. And kids today enjoy using computers because they feel as if they are not working hard when they get to be online.
I am a very visual person. The idea of using "photographs, diagrams, charts, graphs, drawings, musical notations, and pictures" (Maloy) in a classroom has been common for a long long time but now teachers can use modern technology to bring lessons to life. All these visual aids can be used on a Smartboard and interacted with by students. Reenactments and documentaries can be watched in a classroom. Even homework is better with technology because students can create maps, movies, online games, and online quizzes.

"Learning Assessments" page 63

On page 63 I came to the section that said assessments are "short answer tests, essays and other written tasks, oral discussions, teacher observations, class participation, and student projects, portfolios, and performances, all of which provide evidence of what students have learned..." (Maloy). I thought about how pencil and paper tests are so boring and now students have the ability to study, do projects, do homework, and now even do their tests on a computer. This must make it so much easier for teachers to check tests over and make losing individual papers an obsolete problem. I am really looking forward to having the ability to keep my student's grades and progress on a well developed program. I think it will be really interesting to be able to design quizzes and tests online for my students also. 

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"Assessing and Evaluating Students" page 67

I wanted to continue on  with my thoughts from the "Learning Assessment" part of the text book with what I read on page 67. I thought it was really interesting to see what teachers think about assessments. Typically we just think about how students view assessments. I know that I definitely do not want to test my students the way I was tested in school. I can understand why some teachers would use methods that they are comfortable with because they are what was used when they were in school, but I think that it is important to keep up with the times and identify with what your students will be most comfortable with. 

I also looked at some of the statistics given n standardized testing. I am not a fan of standardized testing because not all students are "standard". Some students will do well on pen and paper tests and some will do better on computers. Because so many students show their knowledge in a lot of different ways, we should rethink how we give standardized tests to allow those students to show what they know in the best ways possible. 

As for teacher tests, I am a fan of teacher testing. I think that it is very important for teachers to be up to a certain level of education and be able to demonstrate that. I also think that teachers should have to do more than the occasional performance assessment because our drop out and failure rate is still much higher than I am comfortable with. 

RESOURCES:

Maloy, R. W. (2011). Transforming learning with new technologies. Boston: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon.