The world we live in today has been transformed by technology and in the same light, technology has also transformed the world (Laureate, 2011) and this scenario has created a situation which makes the use of technology mandatory. Understanding the Impact of Technology on Education course has helped me tremendously to know that there is only one way to tackling the challenges that are associated with the 21st century workplace: the use of technology in my classroom (Laureate, 2011).
Before I started this course I used to think, I was current with technology because I like using it; and for my school we have two functional computer laboratories of twenty computers each, SMARTBoards and electronic tablets; our school was even decorated with the ‘Best ICT School’ award in our State/District. However, I had not seen how tools like wikis, blogs and podcasts can be integrated effectively in the classroom as I have in this course. Now I have a technology work-base for my students that is equipped with all these technology tools. My SMARTBoard is now more active than before, as we make use of new tools that are more engaging and inquiry based. I have been able to register and open a classroom interactive site for my students where they can post in their blogs and work on assignments as well http://mummysplace.edu.glogster.com/ . They have their login details and can actually work on the assignments online and submit. I am able to access every individual’s work and post the assessment back to them; it’s a little like online school. Their parents are actively involved to supervise them at home and make sure of their safety online. This would not have happened had it been I was not enrolled for this course. I was able to download and install the pixie software from Tech4Learning, (a site suggested by my lecturer); explored the usefulness and discovered that my children loved it, so I have ordered for five packages of the full versions of all their products: Frames 4, ImageBlender, Pixie 3, Twist, Share and the full package of Recipe4Success. I am now willing to go all the way in integrating technology in my classroom and indeed school, all because I am where I am today, doing this course.
It is my responsibility as a teacher to see to it that my students are relevant to what goes on in the world around them so that they are not caught unawares; by creating an atmosphere that enables them acquire skills for the 21st century (Partnership for 21st Century Skills). I should step back a little bit so that my students can explore for themselves and find resources that are suitable for their learning. Mine is to guide, prompt and oversee them as they literally teach themselves in and with the use of technology. This will be made possible in my elementary mathematics classrooms as we embark on real life project assignments as we integrate technology into the curriculum (Keengwe, Onchwari, & Wachira, 2008). The children will have the opportunity to investigate, collaborate and make predictions and suggestions that will be of benefit to the society.
One thing that I have discovered about technology is that there is no end to its searching because it is always evolving and as a teacher in one of today’s schools, I must be able to sustain this transformative change (Trilling, 2005). I can also collaborate with my students who can be referred to as “digital natives”, to know the new technology tools they have discovered that they may like to use while I share my own discoveries with them as well (Prensky, 2005).
Now that my pedagogy is changing, I have formulated two long term goals which will also align with my new approach to teaching. In respect to this, my first goal is that in the next two years, I will prepare my students for the 21st century workplace by integrating the use of technology in my classroom as we make use of real life projects that will engender and develop creativity, collaboration, communication and problem solving skills in the students.
My second goal is to that in the next two years, I will educate parents, teachers, and administrative personnel in my school of the new focus of the use of technology so that we can all see the need to equip all our classrooms with adequate technology tools for all the children in my school.
This is the seventh week of this course, and looking back at the first week’s checklist of Practices to Support 21st Century Skills again, I can confidently say that where my choices had been ‘Sometimes’ and ‘Rarely’; I have been able to change them to ‘Often’. This is indicative of how much I have changed in the past few weeks, I can only imagine how this change will be in a few years and how it will continue to transform my class and get my students ready for the 21st century workplace. As we draw close to the end of this course, it is as if a fresh fire for technology has just erupted on the inside of me, and it has been hard to log off the internet myself. These days I wake, walk, work and sleep technology as I prepare for and look forward to my next fun-filled diversified technology oriented class where we do different things (Laureate, 2011). It's simply amazing.
References
Keengwe, J., Onchwari, G., & Wachira, P. (2008). The use of computer tools to support meaningful learning. AACE Journal, 16(1), 77–92
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). 2011: Technology’s influence. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Thornburg. D & Davidson. H
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). 2011: The changing work environment: part 1. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Thornburg. D
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). 2011: The emergence of educational technology [DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Thornburg. D
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf
Prensky, M. (2005). Listen to the natives. Educational Leadership, 63(4), 8–13.
Trilling, B. (2005). Towards learning societies and the global challenges for learning with ICT. TechForum. Retrieved from http://www.mirandanet.ac.uk/ftp/Toward_Learning_Societies.pdf
Saturday, 17 December 2011
Sunday, 4 December 2011
Wednesday, 23 November 2011
Evaluating 21st Century Skills
The Partnership for 21st Century Skills site is full of information; tools and resources for educators, policymakers, parents and communities; links to presentations and publications; opportunities for professional development; and animation about how students can soar far and above their peers. I really enjoy browsing through the site and I believe this is a site that I will still need to explore as well as add to my favorites. When a teacher gets a grip of the resources in this site and makes use of them, the students are on the pathway to 21st century successful workers. The main focus of the site for educators is to be able to equip and prepare students not just for the classroom but for life outside and beyond school.
I was surprised to learn of the statistics of how the US K – 12 education system is fairing in relation to 21st century readiness as:
“Eighty-four percent of employers say K-12 schools are not doing a good job of preparing students for the workplace; 55 percent say schools are deficient in preparing students with basic employability skills (such as attendance, timeliness and work ethic); 51 percent cite math and science deficiencies; and 38 percent cite reading and comprehension deficiencies.
A very small percentage of 4th and 8th grade students US students (less than 30%) perform at a proficient level in math, while up to 20% lack the competence to perform even basic mathematical computations” (Partnership for 21st Century Skills).
This is frightening in the sense that if this is happening in the US, then my country is a long way off in preparing our children for the 21st century reality. This challenge indicates to me that I have to firstly realize the seriousness of the deficiency and proactively prepare my school and students for the 21st century workplace so that they will be employable and efficient anywhere in the world.
I am particularly intrigued with the fact that a framework for the 21st century learning has been developed by the organization to help educators, administrators and policy makers to know how to overcome this challenge. The framework lays out in details the types of skills, and the knowledge and expertise needed to be mastered by students for success in the workplace.
It is difficult to find anything on this site that I can disagree with except that in order to get involved and subscribe to the P21 newsletter, I have to be in the United States of America and I wish this was different, maybe Walden University can give some sort of leverage in this matter so that we can be identified on this site when we make use of our Walden’s e-mail address.
It is sheer joy for me to learn about this site.
Reference
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf
I was surprised to learn of the statistics of how the US K – 12 education system is fairing in relation to 21st century readiness as:
“Eighty-four percent of employers say K-12 schools are not doing a good job of preparing students for the workplace; 55 percent say schools are deficient in preparing students with basic employability skills (such as attendance, timeliness and work ethic); 51 percent cite math and science deficiencies; and 38 percent cite reading and comprehension deficiencies.
A very small percentage of 4th and 8th grade students US students (less than 30%) perform at a proficient level in math, while up to 20% lack the competence to perform even basic mathematical computations” (Partnership for 21st Century Skills).
This is frightening in the sense that if this is happening in the US, then my country is a long way off in preparing our children for the 21st century reality. This challenge indicates to me that I have to firstly realize the seriousness of the deficiency and proactively prepare my school and students for the 21st century workplace so that they will be employable and efficient anywhere in the world.
I am particularly intrigued with the fact that a framework for the 21st century learning has been developed by the organization to help educators, administrators and policy makers to know how to overcome this challenge. The framework lays out in details the types of skills, and the knowledge and expertise needed to be mastered by students for success in the workplace.
It is difficult to find anything on this site that I can disagree with except that in order to get involved and subscribe to the P21 newsletter, I have to be in the United States of America and I wish this was different, maybe Walden University can give some sort of leverage in this matter so that we can be identified on this site when we make use of our Walden’s e-mail address.
It is sheer joy for me to learn about this site.
Reference
Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (n.d.). A report and mile guide for 21st century skills. Washington DC: Author. Retrieved from http://www.p21.org/images/stories/otherdocs/p21up_Report.pdf
My Wiki Experience
Wiki Wiki Wiki
What a collaborative tool
That is really really very cool
Though it needs for one to spool
All data entered into the pool
Wiki Wiki Wiki
A needed tool for the school
Sunday, 13 November 2011
MATHEMATICS BLOG
Mathematics blog will 
enable the students analyze how to work mathematical problems easily as they explore their answers to the questions asked.
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Blogging in my Classroom
Children’s interest in academics goes a long way in determining their level of attention and willingness to learn. Technology happens to be a tremendous point of interest to children; so using the medium will lighten them up, arouse their curiosity and motivate them to learn. Students have a preference for the internet to assess the latest information about their course content, which usually poses a challenge to their teachers who are just trying to tag along with the notion of using the internet (Richardson, 2010). One of the reasons educators should imbibe the use of technology in the classrooms is that they may be a step ahead of their students (Thornburg, 2004).
A blog is a simple, cheap and useful tool for the classroom because the teachers are able to set up blogs at no extra cost while students are given the opportunity to interact academically with each other and the teacher; and exchange ideas with the world so that they can get to know other people’s perspectives of any discussion matter.
In my classroom, I intend to use the blog for my grades one to six mathematics students but for the purpose of this presentation I will like to focus on my third graders. I will make use of discussion on working methods for mathematical problems from across the curriculum. Students will be expected to state how they intend solving a problem. This will give room for interaction among pupils as if they are working in discussion groups while I moderate. Several ideas will come from contributors so that the students will be able to expand their knowledge base. Right now the topic we are treating is equivalent fractions. I also intend to have number games of fractions that are equivalent to each other so that students will make a choice of which fraction is equivalent to the given one and discuss why. Since the knowledge of multiplication is important to performing equivalent fractions, I will post questions that will generate their ability to recall their multiplication values and how to apply same to equivalent fractions. Word problems will also feature prominently. The blog will be an avenue for students to interact about content in an interesting manner. Mathematics becomes easy when students derive fun in doing it. The sense that they are playing around with the technology, helps them relax and focus, because they do not like to be defeated by the computer in their games.
The simple idea of sharing their ideas gives them the satisfaction of achievement as they feel that they have important views, and this consequently builds confidence in them that makes him work hard at his given task so that it can be of global standard. On the other hand, blogging shifts the focus from the confines of the classroom to the glare of a global audience where every bit of information written can be readily accessed and assessed by anyone, including their parents who will be able to compare their children’s work with his classmates. It is however important for the teacher to take the time to oversee and model safe and acceptable level of communication during blogging (November, 2008).
References
November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Chapter 6, “Expanding the Boundaries: Blogs, RSS, Podcasts, and Wikis”
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf
A blog is a simple, cheap and useful tool for the classroom because the teachers are able to set up blogs at no extra cost while students are given the opportunity to interact academically with each other and the teacher; and exchange ideas with the world so that they can get to know other people’s perspectives of any discussion matter.
In my classroom, I intend to use the blog for my grades one to six mathematics students but for the purpose of this presentation I will like to focus on my third graders. I will make use of discussion on working methods for mathematical problems from across the curriculum. Students will be expected to state how they intend solving a problem. This will give room for interaction among pupils as if they are working in discussion groups while I moderate. Several ideas will come from contributors so that the students will be able to expand their knowledge base. Right now the topic we are treating is equivalent fractions. I also intend to have number games of fractions that are equivalent to each other so that students will make a choice of which fraction is equivalent to the given one and discuss why. Since the knowledge of multiplication is important to performing equivalent fractions, I will post questions that will generate their ability to recall their multiplication values and how to apply same to equivalent fractions. Word problems will also feature prominently. The blog will be an avenue for students to interact about content in an interesting manner. Mathematics becomes easy when students derive fun in doing it. The sense that they are playing around with the technology, helps them relax and focus, because they do not like to be defeated by the computer in their games.
The simple idea of sharing their ideas gives them the satisfaction of achievement as they feel that they have important views, and this consequently builds confidence in them that makes him work hard at his given task so that it can be of global standard. On the other hand, blogging shifts the focus from the confines of the classroom to the glare of a global audience where every bit of information written can be readily accessed and assessed by anyone, including their parents who will be able to compare their children’s work with his classmates. It is however important for the teacher to take the time to oversee and model safe and acceptable level of communication during blogging (November, 2008).
References
November, A. (2008). Web literacy for educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Chapter 6, “Expanding the Boundaries: Blogs, RSS, Podcasts, and Wikis”
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Technology in the Classroom
My world of technology exploration as a teacher has just started and I am inviting you to join me in this adventure. I have been using technology in my classroom and I am enjoying every bit of it because my students are in the better academically for it. We make use of the interactive board with internet connection. There is no limit to the amount of educational resources available for use in my classroom as the students search and explore the internet for learning purposes.
In this fast changing world of technology where most of the children that walk through the doors of our classrooms are tech savvy, we definitely need to embrace the use of technology in the classroom; not to mention the fact that many professions have had various breakthroughs in the use of technology, possibly because there is such a demand placed by their clients, which is not usually the case with education (Thornburg, 2004). When utilized, technology makes our jobs as teachers easier because we are able to do different things (Laureate, 2011) to enable our students to be lifelong learners. Most of our students are able to easily maneuver various gadgets for learning, so teachers need to catch up with, and possibly be ahead of their students.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). 2011: The emergence of educational technology
[DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Thornburg. D
Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf
In this fast changing world of technology where most of the children that walk through the doors of our classrooms are tech savvy, we definitely need to embrace the use of technology in the classroom; not to mention the fact that many professions have had various breakthroughs in the use of technology, possibly because there is such a demand placed by their clients, which is not usually the case with education (Thornburg, 2004). When utilized, technology makes our jobs as teachers easier because we are able to do different things (Laureate, 2011) to enable our students to be lifelong learners. Most of our students are able to easily maneuver various gadgets for learning, so teachers need to catch up with, and possibly be ahead of their students.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). 2011: The emergence of educational technology
[DVD]. Understanding the impact of technology on education, work, and society. Baltimore, MD: Thornburg. D
Thornburg, D. (2004). Technology and education: Expectations, not options. (Executive Briefing No. 401). Retrieved from http://www.tcpdpodcast.org/briefings/expectations.pdf
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