Week 4 - Blog Posting #8 -Reflection on Blogging

Week 4 - Blog Posting #7 -Second Life

Second Life is a virtual world like none other. I believe it is growing exponentially. Groups are being created, land is being secured, and many Linden dollars are being spent. What a concept!

When Dr. Wyly had us meet in Second Life for our MLR class, month 1 of the program, I thought Second Life was a little creepy, but I also enjoyed it. I laughed a lot as one of my classmates kept trying to manipulate her avatar to sit in a chair, and I even enjoyed being able to have a sip of champagne (unfortunately, the tiny bubbles aren’t much fun virtually). I still have to admit that I’m not 100% comfortable with Second Life, but a lot of strange people don’t really inhabit the educational world in Second Life. (I had a naked avatar continually bump into me one of the first few times I was in Second Life – a little strange.)

I have been an ISTE member since June and have enjoyed “attending” some of the seminars they have to offer. I have to say that this is one of the big draws for me in Second Life. To be able to meet up with fellow educators and “interact” with them is an advantage of SL. But, I have been struggling with how to use Second Life with my fourth graders.

How funny, I was just reading a resource for Second Life in elementary education, and it talks about running in to naked avatars – I’ve gotta use this article! (ContentMatters)

My two daughters love being online and “connecting” with other children in cyber space. The frequent Club Penguin, Webkinz, and Girlsense, just to name a few. In these “worlds” they interact with children their own age through their own avatars – penguins, stuffed animals, and boutique owners, respectively. As a parent, I have not been skeptical nor have I found these sites to be creepy. They are, in fact, very similar to Second Life. However, I feel that these sites are safer for the children (Sabet). Why? They are policed constantly. How do I know this? Well, one of my daughters got in trouble with the law! I had forgotten about this until just a few seconds ago. Basically, someone visiting our house found my daughter’s password to her penguin and used it to say mean and inexcusable things to other members of the Club Penguin community. I know what you were thinking: "Yeah, right. It’s the proverbial friend who stole the password. That’s what the mom thinks. It’s really her own child.” Well, Club Penguin safety officers confirmed the time and date of the infraction and we were away for the weekend. Anyway, the point is that while Second Life is great for adults, I'm not sure I can be convinced it's also appropriate for elementary classrooms. I think these child-friendly arenas are better suited for our younger technology specialists!

References

http://sabet.typepad.com/bijanblog/2006/12/webkinz_world_s.html

http://www.contentmatters.info/content_matters/2007/04/webkinz_social_.html

Week 3 - Blog Posting #6 -Communities of Practice

Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly (Wenger 2007).

Communities of practice exist or can exist in almost any field. Teachers can come together to develop an excellent unit of study. Health care workers can interact to create a better method of caring for patients. Plumbers can meet to construct an innovative pipe system that works better than what is currently being used. Our students must be taught that working together in these communities of practice is something they will need for the future. How do we do that?

Well, we start now! For example, in my fourth grade math class, students come together to form communities of practice. Together, they work on long division. One person may be strong in multiplication, where another is strong in the area of subtraction and borrowing. When they all come together, they are able to pool their resources and do a better job than if they were working individually.

This reminds me of the Weakest Link game show on television. But, the community of practice is not as weak or as strong as the weakest link. Instead, when working together, a community of practice is more likely to perform better. According to Wikipedia, there are many benefits of these communities (“Communities of Practice”):

The knowledge that is shared and learned in communities of practice is social capital. People connect at various levels and across departments, both internally and externally of the company or organization, without the constraints of a formal company structure. As people connect with each other they are able to share their expertise and learn from other members. Benefits include the following:

Problem solving

Developing new capabilities

Leveraging best practices

Standardizing practices

Time savings

Increase in talent

Avoiding mistakes

Creating new knowledge

“Such communication results in the improvement of the knowledge of each participant in the community and contributes to the development of the knowledge within the domain” (Gannon-Leary 2007). This reminds me that old habits die young. It is still hard for me to let go of the peace and quiet in the classroom, even though I know that a lot of good can come from students working together for a common goal.

References:

“Community of Practice”. (2009). Wikipedia. Retrieved September 21, 2009 from http://wikipedia.org/wiki/Communities_of_practice.

Gannon-Leary P. & Fontainha, E. (Septemner 26, 2007). Communities of Practice and virtual learning communities: benefits, barriers and success factors. http://www.elearningpapers.eu/index.php?page=doc&vol=5&doc_id=10219&docing=6

Wenger, Etenne. (2007). Communities of practice: A brief introduction. Communities of practice. Retrieved September 21, 2009 from http://www.ewenger.com/theory.

Week 3 - Blog Posting #5 -Social Media

“And so it seems that schools around the world are starting to understand what this social media thing is all about. They are starting to see that the Internet and the online tools that have been created over the past few years are and very well could become some of the greatest education tools ever created. Now it’s simply a matter of implementing those tools into our education system and giving our youth the skills necessary to succeed in the future” (Alff 2009).

We definitely have our work cut out for us. This is going to be an uphill battle - convincing the powers that be that social media is an important skill that should be taught in our schools. However, instead of burying our heads in the sand and saying that schools should not be teaching this, we have to realize that valuable lessons come out of teaching children about social media. If we teach children that the Internet and social media is not as private as they think it is, we could save them from future battles. For example, a high school senior who applies to the school of her dreams only to find out that the admissions team viewed her Facebook account and was less than happy with photos a friend posted showing her taking shots of tequila at a Christmas party. Another example: a college graduate is offered a job, but the offer is retracted because of questionable behavior on MySpace. These unfortunate experiences could be avoided if schools began teaching about social media and how students should use social media responsibly.

I read a fantastic post on ChrisBrogan.com that showcases a teacher who uses all types of social media in his classroom. He checks his RSS feeder to see how his students are updating their social network. On his way to work, he listens to students’ book reports on his iPod. He has his class use their cell phones to take pictures on their nature walk so that they can use them for their nature walk. All of this takes place on a normal school day in a third grade classroom! This is not a dream; it is a reality. And it could be a reality in all classrooms across the country. If we don’t keep up with technology and the growth of our students’ base knowledge, then we will surely fall behind.

In the three first courses at Full Sail, I mentioned the following book. As I am exposed to the new technology, I just keep thinking about the book and the author’s message. The Saber-tooth Curriculum written by A. Pediwell is a satirical view of education. Pediwell says that basically we have continued to teach things that are no longer necessary, or we teach the way we ourselves learned because that’s what we have always done. Some would argue that there’s not much value in teaching handwriting because so much is being done on computers nowadays. Should we move away from handwriting and maybe teach more keyboarding skills? Or maybe use the time that was once allocated to penmanship for social networking or social media. The change is coming!

Alff, D. (March 30, 2009). UK students now being taught social media in elementary. http://socialmediaschools.com/uk-students-now-being-taught-social-media-in-elementary-school/2009/03/

Borgan, C. (August 29, 2008). Workflow - Social Media School Teacher. http://www.chrisbrogan.com/workflow-social-media-school-teacher/

Pediwell, J. (2004) The saber-tooth curriculum. New York: McGraw Hill.

Week 2 - Blog Posting #4 - 21st Century Skills & Lifelong Learning

After watching the video of Howard Rheingold, I was very intrigued by the “Crap Detection” alias he gives to Critical Consumption. So, I decided to do a little research about crap detection and why it is important…

“The first thing we all need to know about information online is how to detect crap, a technical term I use for information tainted by ignorance, inept communication, or deliberate deception” (Rheingold, 2009). My children have had computers in their rooms with uncensored access to the Internet since they were 2 and 3 years old. Crazy? I think not. I have made Disney, GirlSense, and Club Penguin their homepages, and truly we have never had a major issue. However, the beloved pop-ups - just one click and you’re hooked. I have had to teach my daughters crap detection beginning with the 101 Pop-Up course. They learned. Then, along comes needing to use search engines for school assignments. This is where discernment comes in to play. Just because something matches their criteria for word usage, does not mean that that site is a good one to use for gathering information. This has taken a little longer to learn. And, quite curious is the fact that my older daughter is better at filtering out the junk, whereas the younger one has more difficulty. You think this is a normal occurrence, right? Well, I attribute it to the fact that the older daughter is more attune to slight variations and innuendos; the younger daughter is more accepting of people, their views, and what they tell her. I figure that if I see this pattern with my own children, it probably holds true for the greater population. So, I have tried to fine-tune their “crap detection” skills in the last two years…it is a skill, maybe even an art.

After our students have mastered crap detection, they need to implement inventive thinking. According to the American Association of School Librarians (2000), inventive thinking encompasses many “cultures”. These cultures include: creativity, entrepreneurship, innovation, risk, wonderment, adaptability, and thinking skills. Students can enhance and develop these skills by using role playing games on the Internet or taking part in virtual worlds such as QuestAtlantis. Even the simple task of taking apart things and putting them back together builds creativity, risk, innovation, wonderment, and adaptability.

When I was a young child, my grandfather was always busy putting together circuit boards for early computers and other machinery. I was allowed to help him solder the circuits in place. He would also “tinker” around with his tools, taking things apart around the house and then putting them back together. I learned from him that I could do almost anything. By investigating how things worked, I was able to fix what could possibly be wrong with them. This little bit of guidance and being allowed to tinker taught me that I could drill holes in walls to hang the heaviest of items, I could open my computer tower and remove a broken fan or add an optical drive, and I could make sense of the immense amount of cables required to wire my family’s entertainment hub. I am forever thankful to my grandfather for making me believe that anything was possible if I put my mind to it. I believe that is what has filled my life with a love of learning – lifelong learning!

http://www.i-learnt.com/Skill_Sets_Inventive_Thinking.html

Rheingold, H. (2009, June 30). Crap detection 101. Message posted to City Brights [San Francisco Chronicle SFGate]: http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/blogs/rheingold/detail?entry_id=42805

Week 2 - Blog Posting #3 - Media Literacy

Because of the rapid rate that technology is changing in the 21^st century, the field of education is being presented with the monumental task of having to revamp the way schools teach. Students are learning amidst blogs, wikis, websites, and YouTube videos, all of which are bringing collaborative intelligence to the forefront. The development of Web 2.0 tools allows for two-way learning and teaching to take place throughout a typical student’s day (after school hours). As McLoughlin and Lee point out, “the challenge is to enable self-direction, knowledge building, and learner control by offering flexible options for students to engage in learning that is authentic and relevant to their needs and to those of the networked society while still providing necessary structure and scaffolding” (2008).

As McLoughlin and Lee suggested, teachers must sync the curriculum and benchmarks with the many tools available for students today. This will aid in students being better prepared for the future. For example, gone are the days when handwriting was a critical part of the curriculum; now students are using computers for their daily assignments, and handwriting is not of extreme importance. Just because teachers learned something a certain way does not mean that they must continue to teach that way. Students are learning differently and teachers must teach differently. Prensky said, “All the students we teach have something in their lives that’s really engaging—something that they do and that they are good at, something that has an engaging, creative component to it” (2005). Then these students come to school and they are bored out of their minds. Couldn’t teachers incorporate the same software and applications students are using after school hours into their lesson plans? Wouldn’t this make students more eager to be engaged?

Students will need to be critical thinkers and responsible, contributing group members for future tasks they will encounter in life. They will find themselves involved in more cooperative tasks than ever before. The education they receive will need to be tailored to these needs and must incorporate the latest technology. As Prensky stated, students need to feel engaged in learning. Students need to be at the center of their learning.

McLoughlin, C. & Lee, M. (2008). Future learning landscapes: Transforming pedagogy through

social software. Innovate 4 (5). Retrieved from http://www.innovateonline.info

/index.php?view=article&id=539

Prensky, M. (2005). “Engage me or enrage me”: What today’s learners demand. Educause

Review 40 (5) 60-65. Retrieved from http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/

ERM0553.pdf

Inspiring site with some things to ponder

Retrieved From: http://fridayreflections.typepad.com/weblog/2007/09/but-weve-always.html

Storyline: From the article Challenging the Rules from the book A Whack on the Side of the Head by Roger von Oech.

When faced with a seemingly intractable problem, a very effective creative thinking strategy is to play the revolutionary, and challenge the rules.

In the winter of 333 B.C., the Macedonian general Alexander and his army arrived in the Asian city of Gordium to take up winter quarters. While there, Alexander heard about the legend surrounding the town’s famous knot, the “Gordian Knot.” A prophecy states that whoever is able to untie this strangely complicated knot will become the king of Asia.

The story intrigued Alexander, and he asked to be taken to the knot so that he could attempt to untie it. He studied it for a bit, but after some fruitless attempts to find the rope ends, he was stymied. “How can I unfasten this knot?” he asked himself. Then he got an idea: “I will make up my own knot-untying rules.” He pulled out his sword and sliced the knot in half. Asia was fated to him.

Reflection:

If constructive patterns were all that were necessary for creative new ideas, we’d all be creative geniuses. Creative thinking is not only constructive, it’s also destructive. Creative thinking involves breaking out of one pattern in order to create a new one.

All too often, we become ensnared by the familiar phenomenon:

1. We make rules based on the reasons that they make a lot of sense.
2. We follow these rules.
3. Time passes and things change.
4. The original reasons for the rules may no longer exist, but because the rules are still in place, we continue to follow them.

So what knots can you untie today?