Towards the end of the reading, Johnson made a comment that saved this entire book for me - "moderation in everything." Yes, video games and television are good for you - they encourage critical thinking and problem solving skills, but sitting in front of them for too long can lead to behavior problems and weight problems (I've seen it happen).
Anyway, what does this mean for libraries and schools? Integration of technology. I'm lucky to work in a school where technology is embraced - students are in the computer lab for at least a half hour each week, plus there are two mobile laptop labs, along with digital still and video cameras, and all kinds of educational software available for teacher and student use. Technology isn't seamlessly integrated yet - some teachers are using their SmartBoards solely as projection screens, not interactive learning tools - but integration will come with education. Teachers and librarians need to be educated in how to best harness educational technology to benefit their students and patrons.
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Friday, December 12, 2008
If I ran the circus...
I really wouldn't change too much. This has been a really informative, entertaining, and practical class. I reviewed some things I already knew a lot about (blogs, social bookmarking), and tried some things I never thought I'd try (Facebook, Second Life). Overall, I learned a lot, and I'll certainly put it to practice, whether personally or professionally.
Now that the nice stuff's out of the way, there are a couple of things I'd change. First of all, I'd clarify the grading procedure and make sure to comment on posts. When I checked my grades in eCompanion, I always found one lone comment relative to one of my posts, when some weeks there were several required posts. If I ran the class, I'd make comments about each post, preferably directly on the students' blogs. I think that if students take the time to write the posts (or papers, or whatever), the professor should take the time to grade them and make individual comments (this goes into a larger argument on my distaste for profs who use TAs to grade everything - a prof chooses to teach a course, he should be able to handle the grading - but I digress).
Going along with the former point is I would make sure that each week's assignment included commenting on classmates blog posts. We only had to do this for a couple weeks, but it would have been nice to have done it every week.
Aside from that, I thought the course content was great and I enjoyed the class!
Now that the nice stuff's out of the way, there are a couple of things I'd change. First of all, I'd clarify the grading procedure and make sure to comment on posts. When I checked my grades in eCompanion, I always found one lone comment relative to one of my posts, when some weeks there were several required posts. If I ran the class, I'd make comments about each post, preferably directly on the students' blogs. I think that if students take the time to write the posts (or papers, or whatever), the professor should take the time to grade them and make individual comments (this goes into a larger argument on my distaste for profs who use TAs to grade everything - a prof chooses to teach a course, he should be able to handle the grading - but I digress).
Going along with the former point is I would make sure that each week's assignment included commenting on classmates blog posts. We only had to do this for a couple weeks, but it would have been nice to have done it every week.
Aside from that, I thought the course content was great and I enjoyed the class!
Sunday, November 16, 2008
How to make a pie graph in Excel
For my screencast, I decided to create something that I could show to the 598 class as well as my students. Students in 3-5th grade use Excel to create graphs, so I thought I'd demonstrate how to create a pie graph using Excel 2007. Enjoy!
Please click here to view - http://screencast.com/t/BVV6jdla
Please click here to view - http://screencast.com/t/BVV6jdla
Friday, November 7, 2008
Education vs. entertainment
Ah, educational videos. When they're done well, they're great. When they're done poorly, students know it. The best educational videos that I've seen are also entertaining (edutainment?). For example, Bill Nye the Science Guy videos are fantastic. Bill Nye presents with a lot of enthusiasm and science content, and simplifies science topics without dumbing them down. These videos have their place in the classroom and in the home, as both education and entertainment.
At my school, we subscribe to a service called United Streaming, which is owned by Discovery. It offers thousands of educational videos on a range of subjects for all grades. Many of the videos are dull and difficult for young students to sit through. However, the nice thing about United Streaming is that the movies are available to download as clips, so instead of watching a full 20-minute video on the history of Thanksgiving, teachers can pick a specific 5-minute clip that pertains to their lesson. United Streaming also offers Weston Woods books on video, which are fantastic video productions of books. The illustrations are animated and the books are nicely narrated. These clips and video books are educational in the content, but entertaining in the way they're presented.
At my school, we subscribe to a service called United Streaming, which is owned by Discovery. It offers thousands of educational videos on a range of subjects for all grades. Many of the videos are dull and difficult for young students to sit through. However, the nice thing about United Streaming is that the movies are available to download as clips, so instead of watching a full 20-minute video on the history of Thanksgiving, teachers can pick a specific 5-minute clip that pertains to their lesson. United Streaming also offers Weston Woods books on video, which are fantastic video productions of books. The illustrations are animated and the books are nicely narrated. These clips and video books are educational in the content, but entertaining in the way they're presented.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
SCILS educational experience
My decision to attend SCILS was a result of what I call my "quarter life crisis." I graduated from college with a BA in Elementary Education in 2003. I bounced around with summer camp jobs, substituting, and finally ended up teaching preschool. I worked there for a little over a year, and quit just before Thanksgiving 2006, due to "irreconcilable differences" with the management. I became disenchanted with preschool, and didn't want to stay in the business. I started substituting again, and ended up subbing the libraries in my district. I loved it, and within two months, had taken the GRE and applied to SCILS. I'm enjoying school, but not really getting involved with my classmates or any kind of "extracurricular" activities, like clubs or anything.
Anyway, here's my history at SCILS:
Fall 07: 522 (Cataloging & Classification) and 547 (Materials for Children)
Spring 08: 550 (Info Tech) and 548 (Materials for YA)
Fall 08: 530 (Principles of Searching) and 598 (Social Software)
Spring 09: (hopefully) 540 (Ref. Sources & Services) and 555 (Multimedia Production)
What's left: 510 (Human Info Behavior), 514 (Learning Theory...), 575 (Ed Media Center Mgmt), and 592 (Field Experience)
Even though I'm technically an on-campus student, I spend most of my time between my desk and my car.
You can see more of my pictures here, and the ed experiences of my classmates here.
Anyway, here's my history at SCILS:
Fall 07: 522 (Cataloging & Classification) and 547 (Materials for Children)
Spring 08: 550 (Info Tech) and 548 (Materials for YA)
Fall 08: 530 (Principles of Searching) and 598 (Social Software)
Spring 09: (hopefully) 540 (Ref. Sources & Services) and 555 (Multimedia Production)
What's left: 510 (Human Info Behavior), 514 (Learning Theory...), 575 (Ed Media Center Mgmt), and 592 (Field Experience)
Even though I'm technically an on-campus student, I spend most of my time between my desk and my car.
You can see more of my pictures here, and the ed experiences of my classmates here.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Brown & Duguid
(Let me start by saying that I followed the Twitter conversation about these chapters, and I agree with everyone else who complained about B&D. It's boring and dense and I just don't get it. Disclaimer: I work with children and am more well-versed in picture books than "academic" readings. I am not an "academic" in any traditional sense of the word, though I do wear glasses and read a lot.)
One point that I took away from the B&D readings this week were the differences between knowledge and information. Particularly, I was interested in their description of how each is acquired. Information is a commodity, while knowledge is a possesion. When you want to learn about something, you need information. When you want to learn to be something, you need knowledge (p. 128).
This relates to their discussion of learning by doing (pgs. 130-131). They discussed a study done by educational psychologists on how children best learn language - by practice, or by reading a dictionary. Children who learned by practice learned far more than children who learned via a book. I saw this firsthand when I taught pre-K. I taught my class the "theory" of letters - what they look like, the sounds they make. Some kids had trouble with the rote learning, but they all blossomed when we played with the letter mats. I scrambled up letter mats on the floor, and had children jump to certain letters - random at first, then spelling out their names and sight words. Learning the theory of something is important, and gives you a lot of information. Learning by practicing something gives you knowledge. If information gives you power, knowledge gives you success.
As far as implications for the US education system - teachers should be concerned with cultivating knowledge, not just delivering information. B&D say on p. 136 that "people learn in response to need." Shouldn't it be a teacher's job to ensure that there is no need? When my private school preschoolers moved on to public school kindergarten, several parents said that their children were miles ahead of the other kids, because they already knew letters, numbers, counting, writing, etc. They possessed that knowledge, which made them better students. Teachers, especially elementary school teachers, have the incredibly important job of delivering information and helping students convert that information into knowledge.
One point that I took away from the B&D readings this week were the differences between knowledge and information. Particularly, I was interested in their description of how each is acquired. Information is a commodity, while knowledge is a possesion. When you want to learn about something, you need information. When you want to learn to be something, you need knowledge (p. 128).
This relates to their discussion of learning by doing (pgs. 130-131). They discussed a study done by educational psychologists on how children best learn language - by practice, or by reading a dictionary. Children who learned by practice learned far more than children who learned via a book. I saw this firsthand when I taught pre-K. I taught my class the "theory" of letters - what they look like, the sounds they make. Some kids had trouble with the rote learning, but they all blossomed when we played with the letter mats. I scrambled up letter mats on the floor, and had children jump to certain letters - random at first, then spelling out their names and sight words. Learning the theory of something is important, and gives you a lot of information. Learning by practicing something gives you knowledge. If information gives you power, knowledge gives you success.
As far as implications for the US education system - teachers should be concerned with cultivating knowledge, not just delivering information. B&D say on p. 136 that "people learn in response to need." Shouldn't it be a teacher's job to ensure that there is no need? When my private school preschoolers moved on to public school kindergarten, several parents said that their children were miles ahead of the other kids, because they already knew letters, numbers, counting, writing, etc. They possessed that knowledge, which made them better students. Teachers, especially elementary school teachers, have the incredibly important job of delivering information and helping students convert that information into knowledge.
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