final course blog reflection - kwl

I decided to answer the blog questions this week as they are written in the course wiki:

What did you know?

Nothing (relatively)

What did you want to know?

Everything (…or as much as I could)

What did you learn?

A lot

How will you use what you have learned in this course to further your technology integration into your own classroom?

Well, getting away from the one word (..ish) answers I gave above, let me go into a little more detail with this answer. Maybe I will even go a little deeper into the previous three questions:

I really did not know much coming into this class.  I thought I knew quite a bit, but I came to find out that regardless of what you know (or you think you know), new technology and new ways of teaching are becoming available seemingly by the minute. So, while I wanted to learn “everything” I came to learn the most important lesson of all: learning everything is impossible.

I feel I learned a lot; maybe more than I expected.  Although, that being said I do not believe I have even scratched the surface.

So, how will I use what I have learned in this course? I plan to use and expand upon my PLN and utilizing Google Reader more I will be able to stay on top of things as they are happening and transfer this information to my students. As I learn about links and blogs I feel my students they should be paying attention to, I will pass them along.  As they graduate they will still be in my network passing information back to be so I can keep future students informed, and so on. More directly I will have my students’ blogging in lieu of writing journals and make sure they are following each other and ski resorts and businesses in the snowsport industry. In addition I will welcome the use of cell phones and smart phone in the field as a way to access their blogs to get more real time reactions to what they are learning. The list goes on and I don’t think any of this would have come to mind had I not taken this class.

Thanks Kim.

P.S. Here is one last video about where I work by some graduates.  Well, they weren’t graduates at the time.

wk 8: chapter 5 thoughts: continuing forward

It is good to know sites like Tapped In are out there. Although like the authors of Web 2.0 mentioned “it is important to recognize that this community, just like all communities of practice, has to work to maintain user motivation and interest” (p. 107). It seems any social network can be utilized for the collective learning and the need to stay current; Facebook pages, LinkedIn, etc.

It made me feel good to see the use of blogs and podcasts referenced at the end of the chapter as I feel these tools extremely valuable ways to keep a large amount of professionals moving forward collectively. And while I do not have any immediate plans to use Wiki in my class, I can see it in my future. Obviously the use of webinars such as those found on PBS Teachers are immensely beneficial and are an obvious choice in using technology in keeping everyone current in technology.

As a college professor, I hope the schools and teachers can keep up with technology because the stronger student are in their technology literacy, the more I can concentrate on moving forward with my curriculum.

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: New tools, new schools. Eugene, Or: International Society for Technology in Education.

wk 8: PLN's and safety in numbers...or...joining the herd

I am control freak. There. I said it.

Sometimes that need for control manifests itself in different ways.  One way is, like a lot of people, if I am not in control, my fight or flight tendencies kick in; I don't get it so I will argue its value or I don't get it so I will avoid it.  In the world of web tools I need to fight these tendencies.  After all these tools have been put into place to help, right?

Building Personal Learning Networks is one example of why I need to fight these tendencies. Why go out and find something on my own if others in my network have already done it for me?

After watching the video below (I know, I know, if you have been following this blog, I am a bit of a YouTube junky) I feel have barely scratched the surface in taking advantage of PLN's.

Warning: keep your finger on the pause “button”; this video goes by pretty quick!

The speed of this video mirrors my opinion of web tools in that everything is going so fast.  In a post on Wesley Fryer’s blog Miguel Guhlin referenced a panic attack he incurred in July of 2005 and said, “I realized that the world is changing faster than I can keep up.” I often feel that way.  But like in nature PLN’s can help us through safety in numbers.

week 2: back to the future…and chapter 1

Well it would seem in my haste at the beginning of this term I missed a post.

Chapter 1 of Web2.o was an interesting read for a couple of reasons.  First of all, it introduced me to a lot of information that I either did not know r already knew but just never thought about.  It gave me a view of the roots of the internet and the fact that, sadly, like many technical advancements in our world the seed of the internet was planted by the military. Now when I say that, I do not say it as someone who is emphatically opposed to the military and all it stands for; because I am not.  I understand the need for the military and its role in the safety of the American people.  I am just saying it is sad that it seems many of our technical advancements in today’s society can find their roots in some form of paranoia.

Another, and semi-related, reason I found the first chapter interesting is the way web tools create change. Specifically, I found the stories brushed upon on page 14 were particularly interesting; how bloggers are affecting media.  I found the video below very interesting.  It is a segment of Digital Age where the panel members discuss “Rathergate” and other ways blogging is affecting mainstream media.

A third aspect of the first chapter is what is not discussed; Facebook is nowhere to be found.  What this says is in the short time since this book was published in 2007 an enormous social media site that has taken over the world has been born and grown to what is today.

webinar: PBS's Teaching about Place with Ken Burns's "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" recorded October 7, 2009

I viewed an archived webinar on pbs.org that was informative and entertaining.  Due to my love for the outdoors and my history working in Yellowstone I chose the webinar Teaching about Place with Ken Burns's"The National Parks: America's Best Idea" recorded October 7, 2009.  The age of the webinar did not concern me so much due the content.

The webinar began with an introduction on how to participate in the webinar complete with a visual on where the tools are on the screen and how, when and why to use them:

The webinar continued with one of the moderators taking the time to learn where everyone was from. He did this by having the participants use the appropriate screen tool to point out their location on the map.  As you can see below participants were spread out all over the US:

The moderators then took a moment to introduce the presenters and we were o our way!

I was impressed by the way the presenters and the moderators were able to open windows for all to see.  Although what surprised me was how the window they opened was live for me even thogh the presentation was a recording.  I was able to move the YouTube window around and when I tried to close it I was informed with a error box that only the moderators could close the window.

I was also impressed by the functionality of the real-time surveying that was done during the presentation so the presentors could get a “show of hands” when they asked questions regarding the information they were going over during the presentation.

The session was concluded with a question and answer period where participants had the opportunity to ask the presenters questions directly about the information covered during the webinar.

And of course there was about five minutes of PBS-related advertising!

Overall, I was impressed by the functionality of the whole webinar experience.  I have taken part in webinars in the past, but they have mostly been more akin to sitting in a classroom watching a PowerPoint lecture.  I will keep an eye on PBS.org and look forward to being a participant in one of their webinars in the future.

week 7: Brian Crosby = great tools = great work...where to next?

The Brian Crosby video was inspiring regardless what level you teach.  I say it was inspiring because he proves there are no boundaries in using technology. I was impressed by the balloon project and I was moved by the way he included his young student who was too ill to physically come to class. Something as impactful as either of these two things creates excitement in the kids in his classroom and, in turn must create excitement in the community.

I think about the young 4^th-grader who runs home after a day at school excited to tell his or her mom and dad about what happened at school and have it be completely positive! There is a lot to be said for that.

Here is a video about some older kids at High Tech High (HTH):

I think I missed out in something when I was in fourth grade...and again when I was in high school.

week 7: The Mummified Chicken, Mutant Frogs, Rockets to the Moon and what PBL means in my world

After watching The Mummified Chicken, Mutant Frogs and Rockets to the Moon I thought project based learning (PBL) will loosely relate to the final projects my students will be working on in one of my classes this semester, Introduction to Ski Area Management (ISAM).  The reason I say it loosely relates is because like in The Mummified Chicken, Mutant Frogs and Rockets to the Moon, most of the information I have found has the students working mostly alone, whereas in this class they will be working very closely, as a group, throughout the semester. Due to the fact that I teach at a college that is very heavy in practical, experiential education, variations of PBL is a lot of what I do. 

The students will have a project that will grow as the course moves through the semester, because much of what they will be doing is building a fictional ski area from the ground up as they learn about the different aspects of ski area management.

Example: They will learn general information about snow making: equipment needed, power, water source, payroll needs, etc. and then they will add this to their final project; most likely within their capital plan.

At the end of the semester they will be asked to present their final project to “board of investors” made up of fellow faculty and industry professionals to sell their plans and they will be graded accordingly based on the board’s responses and the boxes they circle on the rubric.

During the course of the project they will be asked to periodically fill of the following Project Report Card designed to expose any challenges the groups might be having:

Oddly enough, the following video is not only almost exactly what I am talking about (substitute viruses for ski areas) but it showed me what I am doing at the college is PBL after all:

blogging: turning a pipe-line into a learning network

You may want your earphones turned down for the first four seconds...sorry about that.

looking forward to bookmarking…socially

In week four I found a tool I cannot wait to start playing with; social bookmarking. I have two major personality flaws: 1) I am horribly impatient; 2) I hate to wait. They seem like they are the same thing but #1 is much more general. One of the main frustrations I have in my own impatience is when I am trying to figure something out, I become increasingly impatient with myself. It seems to me that social bookmarking will be the end of this frustration…or at least a way of easing this frustration a little.

When I am researching a topic, the part I like least is…well, researching the topic.  In today’s society, with technology being what it is, if I want information I should be able to find it “now”.  Search engines help a little, but with the amount of information that is out there it seems like every time I “google” something, I end up with more questions – don’t even get me started on bing!

Social networking takes seems like it has the potential of removing all of the pain and suffering from online searches. If someone else has already done the search for me, why should I do it again? If I have friends and colleagues who have the same interests and information needs, why can’t we work together…seperately?

dear dr mazur: group hug?

My students like me (or so they say) but are they learning anything? I guess this is a bigger question then it seems. It sounds like Dr. Mazur felt like he was doing a pretty good job only to be humbled a little.  I fear that this would happen to me if I was to dig deeper into this question.  So, for the benefit of my students, I probably should.

I teach lecture courses that are heavy in PowerPoint and I teach courses that are heavy in real world, practical instruction.  I have no doubt the students are taking something valuable away in the practical courses because they are forced to think on their feet; no two situations are the same, but you learn universal lessons from each. Much like in Dr. Mazur’s examples of different ways to ask the same questions, in practical instruction this seems to be the nature of the beast.

It is the lecture courses I am worried about.  I teach very specific information that, if it comes at the students in another form in the real world, are they even going to recognize them? In one of my Tuesday/Thursday lecture courses I guess I already attack this scenario to some degree with what I like to call “Group Hug Thursdays”.  The premise of Group Hug Thursdays is I lecture on the Tuesday and the throw a monkey wrench in the material/concepts from the lecture and make them work though it on Thursdays.

Now the question is: how do I apply this concept to everything I do?

chicken or the egg

What comes first, the technology that drives the project or the project that drives the technology?

The answer is “yes”.

In everyday life we use technology to perform tasks. Often times the successful completion of these tasks would not be without the developed technology already out there.  This is the case for the large majority of us; we have something to do so we find the appropriate technology to do that something.

Then there are the people who are far more intelligent that I.  I know what you are thinking: “that is A LOT of people”. But to be specific, I am talking about the people who want to do something that requires technology that does not exist. These are the people who make the advancements from which we all benefit either directly or indirectly. Members of a relatively small club, these are the people who keep the rest of us moving forward. Bell wanted to talk to someone far away but did not want to go all the way to where he or she was. Answer? Telephone. Edison wanted to read something ina dark, drafty room and not have to deal with a flickering light that might potentially burn everything he owns. Answer? Light bulb. Maybe I am oversimplifying  the need/invention relationship here but, at the end of the day, this is the root of the answer to this question.

We build what we need so we can use what we build.

In a rare interview with Steve Jobs and Bill Gates this question is asked and answered, and while Gates answers the question about 4.5 minutes into it the rest of this clip is pretty good.

still catching up: thoughts on 'new learners of the 21st century'

As I was watching this video I was writing little quotes down for my own entertainment; thoughts that were running through my head. When the video was over I walked away for a while and did some things around the house.  When I came back I had a feeling I would not be able to remember the exact context from which the words and phrases were derived. This was actually the plan. So I am going to enter the quotes and what they mean to me now…now:

Literacy is relevant to the time you live in.

Literacy was a very different thing to me when I was in grade school than it is to a grade school kid now.  I remember watching the video and thinking, “Check out the computers these kids have! They are a far cry from the little mac cube-looking thing we had in my classroom in 6^th grade ad we all had to share it!” Kids today do not just need to know and understand everything tech to get buy, they need to know it to survive. I am going to very loosely paraphrase Dewey the way someone in the video did in that we can not educate the way we did yesterday if our students are going to be prepared for tomorrow. That being said…

I need to become more literate…reluctantly

I am not sure why I added the last word, as the first six are 100% correct.  As a college professor, I always need to strive to be ahead of the curve!

Power and importance of play

Play is what I do for a living. Play is what I teach for a living. It only makes sense that I teach using play.

Play is learning

See above

“Addiction” is relative to the utilization of the activity we are addicted to

Earlier in this semester when I was looking for something else I found a YouTube video of a story about internet addiction.  I guess what I was thinking is addiction is only bad if it negatively affects you or the people around you.  The argument being made in the video is addiction to computers and technology cannot bad if we are learning or benefitting from it in some way.

Are cell phones the teacher’s friend or foe

I remember thinking this because I have a rule in my class regarding cell phones;  if I see them or hear them the person who owns the phone gets a cut for the day unless the person of question gets permission ahead of time (for emergencies)…yes it has gotten that bad. After watching the video I understand they have their place and to be perfectly honest they have come in handy for my sophomore practicum!

“Technology needs to be ubiquitous, necessary and invisible” Christopher Lehmann

If I got this quote wrong, I apologize to Mr Lehmann, but I liked this quote because it defines technology today; a part of life.

catching up: my thoughts on the virtual learning community

“I believe, but can’t necessarily prove, that in order to be successful, an educator needs to exude a profound respect for—and trust in—learners to collectively make good decisions for themselves about their learning” (p. 18).

This quote sums up virtual learning communities for me and I believe to some degree, Richard Schwier.  The virtual learning community needs to be self-driven – even more so than learning in a classroom.  In a classroom the peer pressure to do well and perform could be stronger, whereas the pressure to do well in the virtual community is heavily intrinsic.  Many of us are online learners because we want to learn but do not have the time or the proximity to our desired institution to physically attend classes. Based on this, online learners are learners because they want to be…now THAT is community.

In the first two chapters of Connections we read many comparisons of “vitual” learning communities (virtual meaning online as we come to find out on page 21, but I think we all knew that) and learning communities where we are all present in the same physical space. Two words used in the first two chapters that I would like to dive into are “Hospitality” and “Forgiveness”.

Hospitality:

Early on in my experience earning my master’s degree I was amazed at the ways my classmates were there to help.  While at first, I think we start to help each other as a way to do exactly that – help. We all begin to get a sense that there is a certain degree of online karma in the virtual learning community.  We start to realize that if we help our fellow classmates with links to articles, personal insights, etc. we start to see it come back to us.  Ironically enough, I do not believe I ever received this type of treatment from my fellow classmates with whom I shared a classroom or lecture hall.  The mantra in the physical classroom that seemed to be much stronger was the concept of “keep your head down at get YOUR OWN work done.”

Forgiveness:

I would like to take the liberty to change this word to “flexibility”.  The good news and the bad news of any online/virtual community is the sense of immediacy.  The online learning community is moving and shaking, living and breathing 24 hours/day 7 days/week.  The ongoing nature of the virtual community is relentless - again, good and bad. If you blink you could miss something and if you are in the community to learn, missing anything can be very frustrating. 

This is where flexibility comes in to play; the learner and the community needs to be flexible.  The learner needs to understand that he or she must always check in and the community needs to understand that this may not always be a possibility.

This week I am a prime example of this.  I find myself in the back seat struggling to catch up in all of my classes this term due to the abnormally social characteristics of my life recently; good and bad. I know I need to be flexible and work all hours of the night to catch up in all off my classes this term, but hopefully everyone will keep an eye in the rearview mirror for me to reappear.

So there you go.  Somehow I have informally thanked you, my classmates, for your hospitality and begged for forgiveness in your ongoing flexibility.

a portal to media literacy video: the insights of Kansas State University’s professor Michael Wesch

Wow. That was good information and a video I will be watching a few more times! I it amazing to me the amount of information that has been made accessible to us in recent years. As we all know it can be extremely difficult keeping our students engaged; students who want to learn but do not want to sit in class and listen to some “expert” drone on about topics students should be listening to and learning. Specifically, I have been in the conversation where one of my colleagues said the phrase, “Some students are not cut out for college” and I was struck by Wesch’s alteration of this phrase to apply it to the word “learning”. I have friend – let’s call him Tom…because that’s his name - who was not “cut out for college”, but somehow was able to go on to learn an enormous amount of information while working as a runner on Wall Street and now is an enormously successful businessman who learned by doing. The stars do not align for everyone like they did for Tom who, while a lot of his successes were generated in hard work, some were rooted in being in the right place in the right time. For these people the foot in the door is a college degree. Practical, hands-on instruction is how I learn and, quite honestly, this is the predominant characteristic of my students. SO my goal is to always try to marry the two concepts of practical, field-based learning and a college education.

The questions Wesch hates are the same ones that make my skin crawl; specifically the “is this going to be on the test?” question – if the only information that was important was going to be on the test either the class would be much shorter or the tests would be A LOT longer! So how do we make everything relevant in the eyes of every student? Make the student the expert. Create ownership in the education of the student.

One thing that Wesch’s lecture and this class (Teaching and Learning in a Networked Classroom) is doing is opening my eyes to the possibilities of using online tools as a learning tool for the reluctant student; a collective learning tool. My students have a lot of opportunities to learn from each other.
Since I am posting this on my blog, allow me to use blogs and my sophomore practicum as an example:

An enormous part of my sophomore practicum is the students’ logs – where they were, what they did, what they learned, who they met, etc. We ask our students to download videos, photos, etc. but all of that information is directed to me as that instructor which not only alters the way they “talk” but pipes all of the information to just one person…me. The opportunities I see in my students blogging is shared information and learning through the collective.

If I add a blogging component to this course I think the language will change the thinking will change and the possibilities will grow for each student. Now the information is not all getting bottlenecked to me the professor (a.k.a. expert) who (in theory) already knows all of the information, the student is reporting on information for the collective to learn from…including me, the expert. By this model we find ourselves in an opportunity for everyone to be the expert and for me to become the student.

I am very excited about this.

exponential info tech

The second week in this class has begun by being very interesting.  I got to try out Skype which (believe it or not) I have not tapped into yet and during the Skype call had a lot of information clarified. This first interaction had to happen for the class which, for me, is often the case; I learn what I have to learn when I have to learn it.  I am hopeful this characteristic of my life will change as it has not always been the way.  I have just been so busy in the 24/7 world of resort management for the last few years, all learning has been rooted in necessity.

That being said, I will admit the one part of this week I have enjoyed so far has been the videos.  Not because I am not much of a reader – because I am not – but because the way they were presented.  Notably, the “Did you know…?”  videos were especially informative and entertaining for me.  The difference in information between the two videos certainly makes you head spin when you think about the future. This led me to think about how the minds of the people who think up the devises we (seemingly) take for granted work. This led me to start thinking that the reason for the increased speed and exponential growth of information technology is information technology itself.

Check out the following animate.  It may just back up some of my ramblings in this post!

The first week…oye.

The first week for me has been a tough one. I am in the final semester of my masters and I am cramming two classes (6 credits) and my capstone (another 3 credits) into the next two months. This began as I was in the throes of a ridiculous week at work.

Now that the first week is past me I am pretty happy. Work has calmed quite a bit and so has the work load with school. Networked Classroom was not nearly as crazy as my other class (THANK YOU KIM!) as I was not required to write a paper right off the bat nor read and entire book, but regrettably it was enough that I fell a little behind.

All of that said, I am back on track and feeling pretty good…here we go.