It's Good Stuff

During this experiment as an anthropologist, I learned that Mt. Edgecumbe High School is embracing technology and offering opportunities to its students. The administration is behind the move to incorporate a greater use of technology in the classroom by:

• Installing Smartboards and other equipment
  
• Filling classrooms, dorms, and computer labs with computers complete with internet capabilities
  
• Hiring staff to teach computer based and technology specific classes

Computer instructor Mr. Arnold responded when asked about the school's attitude toward technology, "Students love it and want more of it, and the Administration backs it."

I also learned from this assessment how many opportunities are available to our student body, and the volume of staff competent enough to instruct proper use of the technology. It is also obvious by the amount of tools around campus that technology is a priority.



to read a full report, click the link below
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dws63zh_6crgmgt

Timm Nelson

undergrounddogs@gmail.com

September 17, 2007

Ed 630

Article Summary 1

Listen to the Natives

By Marc Prensky

Overview:

In this article, Marc Prensky defines “native” as today’s students who are native speakers of technology. He suggests that technology is changing how students learn, and promotes different avenues for teaching. By teaching to student strengths, students will learn more and be better equipped to use their technological skills in their future lives. It is the responsibility of the teachers and administrators to become literate in the technology of the 21^st century in order to use these tools to further educate those who use them on an everyday basis. Prensky also advocates giving students more responsibility to make choices on things that are worthwhile to them. He also suggests that algebra be taught through a computer game. By making it a competition and a fun game, students will master the concepts more efficiently.

Reference Points:

1. Students must be reached electronically, through means such as gaming. In this digital world, methods of engagement and motivation are changing.(11)

2. Kids like to be able to choose their own learning partners. Thanks to technology, students are able to choose any partner in the world. The less force you put on a student, the better. (11)

3. Students should be able to “vote with their attention,” forcing teachers to deliver compelling content. (12)

4. “Students should be learning 21^st century subject matter…” (13)

5. How to figure out to deliver this new kind of education will be difficult because the technology is constantly changing. (13)

6. Teachers and administrators are largely far behind the digital times, making changes to cater to a new kind of student difficult. (13)

Response:

I agree that students enter school with more technological skills than they did in the past. Technology can be a great tool for teachers to use in order to motivate, facilitate student learning, make the content relevant, and interesting. It is a big mistake when teachers refuse to learn about new technologies because they are new and foreign. However, these technologies are simply tools. They may be fun, and amazing, but in themselves, they will not help students achieve the desired results of a class or standard. In addition, although these “natives” are far more technologically literate than the average adult, many students do not have cell phones, ipods, or even home computers. Are we catering to an elite portion of the student body by sending interactive lessons to those with cell phones? It is wise to use the new technology that students are excited about, but lets not fall into one of the ‘Sins of design’ by teaching a novelty lesson just so students can receive material over their phones.

Hello. My name is Timm. I ride my bike in the rain and refuse to wear rain gear. My shoes seem to always be wet. I hope that you like my blog.

Epic 2015

This piece impressively pulls off the scary-cool effect they certainly were shooting for. Coming from someone who knows very little about Google and digital forms of everything, I was impressed at how much has been accomplished, and scared that the world seems to be passing me by. There were three parts of the piece I especially liked.

• The history beginning in the late nineties until now gave new information to connect to connect the viewer to the possible future.
• The animation was simple, but creative and helpful to understanding the flow of the piece.
• A look into technology and the effects that it has had and will have on the world makes for interesting and attention keeping material.

My only criticism would be on the introduction. I was initially turned off by the introduction because the piece began from the perspective of the future. This angle forced me into forming early feelings that the whole piece would be fictional and irrelevant.

I am skeptical on the effects that something like this could have on the classroom. As my uncle concurred, the line about news becoming a ‘collection of trivia, much of it untrue’ worries me. How can you teach about the world if you do not know who to trust?

Technology such as podcasting can most certainly be used in the classroom as a tool to attract interest, make connections, and motivate students. It can be good to use new, interesting technology to enhance your class, but it can easily be overdone.

On the first day of school this year, we used Google Earth to show exactly where each person grew up, and is from. I am impressed with the program, and it is fun to play around with. However, in a class of 30 students, this activity was very repetitious and took time. I felt that the learning curve, and interest in the class decreasing after a short while. The technology was being overused, and the benefits of it were lost.

Fox becomes a better person and School Train

Hannah Davis does an excellent job in this short film. She has her story memorized and performs it with actions that assist in the story telling. Her artwork in the background show good use of technology and add to the tale. I also enjoyed the opening use of Tlingit language to show how this is traditionally how stories were told and retold. This truly is a project that incorporates cultural values and learning with traditional western schooling. In this piece, both educational spheres come together as one.

I do not know if this is a story Hannah made up herself, but in a second reading of the Tlingit values that scroll the page prior to her performance, I noticed how many of those values were taught through her story. This is not just an impressive performance of memorization, and creativity, but values are passed along as well. Lastly, as noted in the title, the fox is not just a fox, but a person. It is obvious that she is telling a story to other people. Morals are being taught. This video would receive and “A” in my class because of the content included the performance of Hannah, and the neat effects shown throughout.

You can tell that lots of work went into school train. It is fast moving, and incorporates different scenes, graphics, languages and students. However, it seems like a huge project in order to teach about metaphor. I would fault the teacher more than the students, because I’m sure they had plenty of help on this project and creatively did as they were told. As my uncle also pointed out, the video has a negative view of school in some places. Lots of time in your seat…Testing pull hard. Perhaps the true metaphor is comparing school to things you do not like.