Last day of summer class

I am amazed and nervous about the class today. As much as technology might be scary, if someone is going to help my students learn, how can I not want to use it? I guess I think of technology as a method or a tool. Something in my brain box that I can pull out as necessary if I think it will help a situation. I hope that the rest of the class can think about it in the same fashion

I really enjoyed getting to test out video chatting in class today. I can definitely see how it could be useful, esp if you can get a chat going on with classes around the world. To give the subject of a textbook a face makes it more real to people, and just as Lauren did in her class, can make students place themselves in different situations and become aware of the larger world.

I am glad we will be getting to continue this class in the fall, as well as my technology cognate. As most people can tell by now, I am pro technology, mostly because I am pro learning. Just as people must have had doubts about books opposed to oral history, I imagine in the future, technology will be just as tied with education as the textbook is today, but hopefully a bit more exciting.

Generation M and Short Attention Spans

I thought the Generation M reading was really good as a wake up call for some of the class, and a great reminder for me Although many of them have grown up around this time, I am not sure how many are aware of just how different this age group is. One of the most interesting differences to me is the concept of 'privacy' With so much discussion about sexting in the media surrounding adult politicians in particular, I wonder what people of Gen M think about it. Will it even be an issue for them when they get old enough to be politicians? Will the private and public merge so much that there will not that sense of shock or scandal when possibly inappropriate photos or texts emerge?

I also wonder what role we should be having as educators? As much as we want to protect our student, and I do feel we should, are they creating a new normal for themselves? Will they think we are as prudish in our ideals as those who wore layers of petticoats would imagine us to be today?

When it comes to searching behavior, I actually got caught in a search loop while doing this blog post. I was listening to a song on iTunes -> where can I see some Zydeco bands and learn to two step -> finding RiverFolk (which I now want to go to, anyone want to learn to two step?) -> switching songs on iTunes -> remembering my friend who is due in 2 weeks who I wanted to make a baby cd for -> looking at songs in iTunes that I want to use and making a new playlist-> remembering that I was supposed to be doing this blog post -> coming back here just as a new Zydeco song comes on. Yes, I didn't get the task at hand done quickly, but I did make mini progress on a bunch of tasks that needed to be done. I think with all the searching we do, what we see differently is that it seems that we never really get done with one task without also working on 50 other tasks at the same time, and how long it takes us to get that full list done opposed to the one thing that we started with. Is that approach good or bad? I would love feedback!

Podcasting and Iconography

I loved this class (as usually, I don't think there is a technology topic I don't like to talk about). We talked about quite a few things this class that I wanted to speak to.

The class was split today, with half of us working on podcasting first, and then iconography next, and the other half vis versa.

Podcasting
I am an avid consumer of podcast, so it was pretty awesome to see just how easy it was to make your own. I can definitely see how this could be useful in a classroom - if you could post a copy of the class notes and then have one verbalization of the lesson, how much easier would that be for students who, like Kristin said, can't sit still long. I could also see this as being a pretty awesome way to prep for classes, with mini explanations of things that will be covered - esp if you can prep a few days in advance, so that if you need a Sub, they will still have something to cover in class, even if they are not subject specific subbing.

Iconography
The iconography lesson was way way fun. I am not sure why, but it just made senses to me, even though I know it was not everyone's cup of tea. I liked that we got to talk with partners to develop/discover shared meanings before going to the larger group. I got to work with B and it was fun, but I felt a little bad cause I seemed to get it a bit faster than her, and I didn't take that into account when I was making a joke of it before checking in. I think it is a bad habit of mine that I sometimes assume that everyone gets something without that mini check in, which I think makes me less approachable to questions, something I definitely want to work on as I develop as a teacher.

We didn't get to talk TOOO much directly about the readings, esp some of the notions that the video brought up, but I hope that people will at least keep an open mind about the use of games, both video or otherwise in the classroom and in learning. Not so say that I think they will be a cure-all, but I think in thinking about the structure of games and what motivates us to play them and want to play them, we can definitely find some takeaways that we should use in our lessons and classrooms as well.

I LOOOOOOVE Gaming

Seriously, this was an awesome week for reading. I am a gamer, since I played the olympics on my 286 (LRLRLRLRSpacebar long jumping) when I was 6. That was in 1986. I spent hours playing tetris (aka Nyet) and Final Fantasy (FF) search for that metal slime. I played on a several BBS and made some awesome online friends, who really influenced my life, even though we never met in person. I am a firm believer that games can be good. Not to say that all we should do is play games all day, but I know that it can make a positive difference in people's lives and learning and look forward to incorporating them as I can in my classroom.

Two Mini Gaming Stories
I have a friend who was (and sometimes still is) scared to try new things, because he is afraid of failure. Sometimes I blame this on the culture of schools, but whatever. Anyways, one of the things he is not afraid to try is new games. I think in some ways this is good cause it has boosted his confidence and shown him that he can be good at things. He decided to try guitar and run cross country, two things he had wanted to try before, but just couldn't because of that fear of failure.

Second story is about my roomie in grad school round 1. M and her husband J had lived in Ann Arbor, and she had just finished her first year of grad school when he got laid off and then got a job in Cali. She stayed back the year to finish her degree, and he (a computer game designer) moved, and one way that they used to interact was to play WoW (as well as being a good stress relief after a tough class). Not romantic by most peoples standards, but it gave them a way to be together, even when separated by a continent.

A BIT of personal reflection based on Jane's TED talk

Urgent Optimism
This cracked me up - I am not a sitterbacker - If there is a problem that I think I can help solve, it slays me to have to sit back and not help solve it. Makes me bad in class and life sometimes, but hopefully will help me in the classrooms I work in.

Social Fabric
This has so happened to me in two ways - One, at my last job, the people on my team used to play games at lunch - board games (which I will address below), not video, but it really did help build the team and let us share some 'off' time together, but in a great way. And you still wanted to play against that person who kept beating you, just for the chance to beat them.

Also, I just started playing D&D this past year (you can judge me for that, but it is so fun so :P on your possible anti-gaming prejudices). Some of the guys I play with, I admit that I had some doubts about, but now that we have spent about a dozen sessions playing together, I can see them as at least decent people with some great skills that, while different than me, can be really really useful, which I may not have if I had just thought about them as D&D guys. Additionally the creativity and planning that goes into setting up a session is amazing and makes me think that games can definitely be used for learning.

Also, this makes so much sense - cause have you ever played games with a kids? It isn't so much playing as they know if you play this game, you are gonna devote your time to them for that whole game. Given how little time parents get to spend with kids with jobs and school and all, how great is it that kids figured this out before we did (or at least I just did)

Blissful Productivity and Epic Meaning
When I get a new FF game, I know that it is gonna take me an ungodly amount of hours to finish that sucker. But I never look at it as a chore, but as a mix of gaming and learning and reading a story of a new game. I think that is why I like RPGs most of all - interpreting a story is really meaningful and fun to me, and doing it while killing Red Caps and Lamia is just more fun.

Board Games
There was no mention in the article or the video about learning from games. There have been a number of amazing board games that can help people learn how to solve problems. And not all are super competitive - Pandemic comes to mind where players must all cooperate to stop the spread of a plague, else everyone looses. Plus board games force us to interact in person, building those social skills that people often say can't be learned from gaming.

PS I would be willing to bring in some cool board games for people to check out. Games that all you fun Social Studies people would be able to use in your classes. Ticket to Ride to study the railroad barons or study us cities and their location. Alhambra about city building. Family Business about the Mob (and so quick to learn and so fun to research the mobsters)

PPS Vault of Midnight here on Main St in Ann Arbor has a FABULOUS selection of games and also does game demo nights where you can test drive a new game or try out an old one.

Relections on a Monday

So this week, cause of some scheduling snafus, we had class on Monday as well as the Friday on the schedule, which was a bit crunchy, but since we got to hang out in the Brandon Center, I think it was passable :)

Speaking of which, I can't wait for it to open for a few reasons. Most of those don't have to do with the fabulous technology or pretty colors, but for those things I think are most important for grad students to have - access to a refrigerator, a place to eat lunch with classmates, and mini lockers. I don't know how accessible those might be in the future, but seeing them gives me hope. While we all seem to hunker down in our normal classroom, I imagine that will be less possible once school starts, so I am looking forward to having a place where I can rest and run into people i ways that seem natural in the summer, but will likely be less common in the fall.

Does anyone have any knowledge about how accessible the BC will be to everyone (aka ed students)

I <3 librarians

Seriously, I think this might be one of the best lessons we could have gotten all year - librarians are resources at your school who should be used. They are there to help YOU and YOUR STUDENTS and for the love of Pete, they usually like to do their job, so feel free to utilize them. It was interesting to work with someone who actually had training in putting together a lesson plan, and a bit frustrating because we haven't had any experience in that yet, so it was hard to parse things out since we didn't really have definitions for what those parts were in our heads yet.

Japan - a study in technology making something more real.

So in reading the NYTime blog about Japan, one of the links provided lead to this interactive slider page that let you see satellite images of different locations before and after the quake and tsunami. I can't think of anything to make this diaster more real to students half way across the world. I think I played with this feature for a good 20 min more than I probably should have given the workload this weekend, but it was just too amazing to stop playing with. I will definitely be using this blog as a resource in the future, hopefully for less disastrous events.

In thinking about how to integrate this, with regards to planning a lesson plan, one of the things I would want my students to focus on is the loss of energy production because of these events. I think many student, esp those who drive and pay for their own gas understand how the BP oil spill can impact gas prices at the pump, be it because of loss of demand or not, but it may not be quite as clear what the loss of a nuclear power plant means in terms of energy rates, both short term as they need to come up with a replacement for the power produced there, and long term as other countries determine if they want to 'risk' nuclear power.

Other ideas include having them research death rates from coal fired power plants vs nuclear power, as well as research how different kinds of nuclear power plants work, think about why the power plant was built where it was and think if there were any ways, blue sky, that the disaster could have been diverted. Also, I would love for them to check out the Nuclear Regulator Commission's website here in the US and research their closest nuclear power plant (to Ann Arbor that would be the Fermi plant on Lake Erie) and then look at the maps on the site and try and deduce from what they know about nuclear power, why so many plants are where they are.

Probably a bit much for a day, but it said we could have more than one :)

Twitter reflections and lighthouses

Twitter Opinions Revised?
While I had been a bit worried about how the class would react to twitter based on their reading posts, it seems like the talk by guest speaker A might have put into perspective what it can be good for after all. I have been using twitter for fun for a few years now and have found it a great resource mainly because interesting information tends to come to you instead of you always having to seek it all actively on your own. Mind you, it is not always the information is exactly what you need or want right at that, but sometimes it still useful or file away-able until it can be used.

Being Overwhelmed
Even though I have used twitter for a while, I have never used a twitter client. I knew the existed, but sometime you just want to learn the one thing before you dive in to something more complicated. So even though I was comfortable with twitter, I am really not comfortable with either of the client sites we checked out - HootSuite or TweetDeck. While I can see the appeal of having access to multiple twitter accounts at once or being able to see what is happening with a trend or group compared to your regular feed or feed of certain friends, it really was an overwhelming experience in class. In part the interface was a bit overwhelming and confusing to figure out, especially while trying to listen in class. Maybe because I have a system already set up in twitter for dealing with this, but I am not sold yet. I plan on spending a few hours with it this week, but I am not sure my opinion will change much.

Listing vs Following
One thing we didn't cover in class was the making of lists. Lists are a way of organizing groups of people. One of the benefits of lists if it is a way of following someone without having to actually follow them - I like this because I can have lists organized around important things, like vacation destinations, which may be of interest some of the time, but is not something I want to be showing up in my feed all the time. I tend to make lists of people instead of following them, only because it lets me to focus on it when I want to, but not having it cluttering up my stuff all the time.

Product Review Project
So at the end of class, we all got a playing card, and that determined which product we got to review for our product review assignment and who our partner(s) are. I will be working with Mindy and we will be working on reviewing Toon Boom Studio (http://www.toonboom.com/edu/k12.php#studio), an intro animation software to allow students to create interesting presentations and keep them engaged in class. I am really looking forward to working with it this week and (hopefully) getting to use it in the classroom. I am lover of tech and am always looking for interesting ways to incorporate it into the classroom, so I am hoping this is something that I can use at a later date.

Technology is not always a computer
I am up north this weekend and went on a tour of a lighthouse on Charity Island and they were talking about the Dalen Light, which revolutionize the way that lighthouses worked by creating an automatic valve for releasing acetylene gas at night to light the lighthouse. (the inventor, Nils Gustaf Dalen, won the Nobel prize for this invention in 1912). I think sometime we may forget that technology doesn't have to be computers or online, sometimes it is something very physical and in front of you that can make life work better. Goodness knows I forget about that sometimes, and I am glad the world reminds me, mostly in unexpected ways in unexpected places.

Twitter readings...

First, I love that some of the recommendations in the Skill of the Month article on how to incorporate twitter into the classroom are those that it seems we will be using in class. I LOVE the idea of using twitter for instant feedback, especially for the opportunity for students to message the teacher privately and instantly if something is not making sense, but do not feel like they have to admit to the rest of the class that they aren't grasping something instantly. Honestly I think students shouldn't be afraid to admit confusion, but given they often don't, this seems like a cool alternative to combat that.

In the Join the Flock article, I am glad they mentioned lists. I know some people can feel overwhelmed when they are following a huge number of people, and lists are a great way to manage that. I also have decided to split my personal twitter feed from my educational professional one, and in my personal feed, I have a number of lists, such as Friends, or Retailers, that I can check in on as needed. Also, as a bonus, you can have people on your list that you are not following. I do that for my vacation planning, so I have an easy way to check in on planned locations, but it is not overwhelming my feed all the time.

I am really looking forward to talking about this in class and I hope that people don't have too many anti-twitter prejudices to start out - you can hate it later, that is just fine :)

An intro to the intro of technology in the classroom

Takeaways from the class

• J's class presence - He has a manner of directing a conversation that I want to steal. Even though this is a large classroom, he is constantly moving about the classroom, talking to individuals but including the whole class in the conversation. He has a tendency to walk right up to individuals to get them to ask questions, but to sit/kneel down to hear their answer so the answer seems to go to the whole room, and not just him. I think it both keeps the class attentive, since he can move anywhere at any time, but also can help encourage those who might be disinclined to large group participation to be more willing to speak up since they can be speaking just to him, but the whole group at the same time.

• We have a WIDE range of reasons to want to be teachers and to get to hear everyone's reasons was something that was just good, good for the cohort to be able to understand each other better, good for a chance to verbalize them and good that instructors were actually interested in that reason and would be incorporating that into our classroom discussions.
  

What we talked about

• Dewey and his philosophy of education
• social hygiene videos
• starting the dreamy Dick York
• what our worries and hopes and memories of technology
  
• the class will do anything for post-it notes and sticker
• MEL research resources with Kristen

Favorite class highlights -

• MathBlaster
• overhead projectors
• the dread of using PowerPoint presentations poorly.
  
• Others have labored on this, but as someone who used to create GOOD PowerPoint presentations for a living, I would like to reassure people that it CAN be done, and with little more effort than making the crappy ones.
• Ask three before me is my new favorite teacher trick
  
• The premise being that a student has a questions should ask three people around him before asking the teacher, the idea being that out of those three, at least one should be able to answer the question, and if not, that probably means the rest of the class needs to hear the answer again too!