Reflection - The Future

As I've been thinking about the questions for our course reflection and critique I've decided to use what I've learned about constructivism and set several goals for next year when helping teachers plan or revise research projects.
1. I want to help the teachers make their projects more student-centered by giving the students more choices and having input in what they want to learn.
2. I want to promote having students construct their own knowledge and take more responsibility for their learning.
3. I want to encourage the teachers to use collaborative learning to engage students in problem-based learning projects that use critical thinking skills. I want to get them past just regurgitating back facts.
4. Finally, I want to provide more support in integrating technology into their projects. I really want to convince at least one teacher to switch from having all students making a Power Point presentation to allowing choices such as creating a digital movie with Photo Story 3 or Windows Movie Maker or using Comic Life. My dream is to get some teachers and students interested in podcasting.

Reflection - Pulling It All Together

Last week the 8th grade science teacher met with me to plan 2 projects before the end of the school year. (Since science is now an area for 8th grade MAP testing she postponed these activities until after MAP testing). She wanted students to research diseases and create a PowerPoint. I said, "Do you really want to watch 135 PowerPoints?" So as we talked I kept coming back to the principles of constructivism that I learned in this class. Now the students are working in groups and they are choosing a disease group they are interested in. There are 8 tables in the library so there are 8 disease groups for the students to choose from. The students are given this scenario - More and more people are dying from these diseases. Money is needed for research and you have a chance to get a grant for research money for your disease group. Develop a presentation to convince/persuade a panel from St. Louis University to fund their research project. Yes, they are still doing a PowerPoint but hopefully they won't be "cookie cutter". They are deciding what they need to include to impress and convince the panel. We started the project today and it went really well. On each library table I had put the name of the disease group, some books from the library that might help them and a laptop. They chose their disease group yesterday so when they came in the library today they just sat down at the table and began discussing with their group members. They made a web to develop their guiding questions/topics and then divided up the research among the group members. At the end of the day today the 8th grade science teacher said she heard some of the students say that this project is fun. That's quite a compliment from 8th graders, especially towards the end of the school year.

Resource - YouTube podcasting video

This short (4 minute 30 seconds) video presents the basics of podcasting for educators in a very simple and straightforward manner.

Cassinelli, C. (2007, July 3). Integrating podcasting into your classroom. Retrieved April 7, 2009 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExkMeQfuLGc

Resources - Podcasting on the internet

While researching podcasting last week I found the following websites to have very interesting and useful information.

Reynolds, C. & Bennett, L. (2008, July 7). A social constructivist approach to the use of podcasts. ALT Newsletter. Retrieved April 4, 2009, from http://newsletter.alt.ac.uk/e_ article 001142653.cfm

Seitinger, J. (2006, July 31). Be constructive: Blogs, podcasts, and wikis as constructivist learning tools. Learning Solutions. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from http://www3.griffith.edu.au/03/ltn/docs/Design_Strategies.pdf

Shelley, N. (n.d.). Podcasting in the classroom. Retrieved April 3, 2009, from http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~nshelley/index.html

Tuttle, H.G. (2008, September 22). Constructivism and web 2.0. Message posted to http://www.hotchalk.com/mydesk/index.php/hotchalk-blog-by-dr-harry-grover-tuttle-on-teaching/372--constructivism-and-web-20

Vincent, T. (2009, February). Podcasting for Teachers & Students. Retrieved from http://learninginhand.com/podcasting/Podcasting_Booklet.pdf

Resources - podcasting articles

Here's a list of articles on podcasting:

Diott, A.M. (2007, April). A (pod)cast of thousands. Educational Leadership, 64(7). Retrieved April 6, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.

Lee, J. W., McLoughlin, C. & Chan, A. (2008, May). Talk the talk: Learner-generated podcasts as catalysts for knowledge creation. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(3). Retrieved April 6, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.

Lipscomb, G. B., Guenther, L. M. & McLeod, P. (2007, April). Sounds good to me: Using digital audio in the social studies classroom. Social Education, 71(9). Retrieved April 3, 2009 from Academic Search Premier database.

Schmit, D. (2007, January). Creating a broadcast empire...from the corner of your classroom! Multimedia & Internet@Schools, 14(1). Retrieved April 6, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.

Vincent, T. & van't Hooft, M. (2007, April). For kids, by kids: Our city podcasts. Social Education, 71(9). Retrieved April 3, 2009, from Academic Search Premier database.

Zuger, S. (2009, February). The science of class collaboration. (How it's done). Technology & Learning, 29(7). Retrieved April 7, 2009, from Science Resource Center database.

Resources - Podcasting books

These are 2 practical books for learning the basics of podcasting and using it in the classroom.

Schmit, D. (2007). Kidcast: Creative podcasting activities, strategies and ideas. Bloomington, IL: FTC Publishing.

Schmit, D. (2007). Kidcast: Podcasting in the classroom. Bloomington, IL: FTC Publishing.

Resource/Reflection - LoTi

I became aware of LoTi (Levels of Technology Implementation) Framework several years ago at the Midwest Education Technology Conference. Then last summer for a Webster class I had to take the LoTi DETAILS Questionnaire, analyze the results that showed my current level of technology implementation and create a plan for improvement (reaching a higher level).

Recently reading information on collaborative learning and technology and technology integration (for another class) reminded me of those LoTi framework levels. So I decided to review them. Wow! I found many changes to the website. First, LoTi now means Levels of Technology Innovation. Then they've updated the DETAILS Questionnaire and it's now the LoTi Digital-Age Survey which is aligned with the initiatives set forth by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and with ISTE's National Educational Technology Standards (NETS) for Teachers and Administrators. I took the new survey and was quite surprised/impressed/overwhelmed by the questions. They definitely focus on new digital technologies, nontraditional assessment, and student-centered learning. The results are customized for each person and provides information on Current Instructional Practices (CIP), Personal Computer Use (PCU), and LoTi (Levels of Teaching Innovation).

There's so much information I haven't had time to process it all. It's definitely worth visiting their website and learning more about it.

LoTi Lounge. http://www.lqhome.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/lotilounge.woa