Millennial Survey

When I think of today’s age of technology, I think of the advancements and how things have changed since I was a kid. I don’t think kids of today’s generation think about technology that way. To them, technology is the latest and greatest digital tool.


In this week’s activity, I had to take a quiz to determine my millennia status as Silent, Boomer, GenX or Millennial. For those of you that don’t know what the Millennial group is, they are the kids of today’s generation that embrace the digital-age, have confidence and good self-expression along with an upbeat attitude and an open mind to changes around them. At the end of the quiz my score was 39 and it put me in the GenX category (1965-1980).

Since I am in the category that is probably the most receptive to the information-age, apart from the Millennial group, I think my background and current knowledge will my help me with my teaching in many ways. For one thing, I am not opposed to including technology in the classroom, but I have reservations about using it for everything. Sometimes the good old fashioned way of teaching math or writing is to do it manually and effectively. I do think that sometimes this generation puts too much emphasis on technology and depends upon it to survive. As a teacher, I plan to have a teaching tool belt filled with technology, but also with basic tools to help students survive if technology isn’t available. Having a balance is important for learning. Looking at my score from the quiz, I think I am in a good position to be an effective teacher by bringing a vast variety of instructional methods to the classroom.

Along with the quiz was an article to review that listed 10 characteristics about the information-age mind set. I’ve listed below the 10 characteristics and stated whether or not I was in agreement with each of them.

1. Computers aren’t technology: Don’t agree. Technology is any advancement that makes life a little easier. Throughout the years, many people made discoveries that were considered technology and now most think of them as inventions. However, those inventions paved the way for many new things that we consider technology. Computers are technology, they make things possible that many could never have dreamed of years ago.

2. Internet is better than TV: Agree. There is much more to learn from the internet and it is interactive where the TV is not.

3. Realty no longer real: Agree. With so much information out there it is hard to decipher what is real.

4. Doing rather than knowing: Agree. We all learn from experiences much more readily than we do from a book.

5. Nintendo over logic: Agree. Students need to work through problems in order to figure them out, and that can be done with trial and error.

6. Multitasking way of life: Agree. People are always trying to do more things at once and it’s not always as efficient as if one thing was finished and then another.

7. Typing rather than handwriting: Agree. You can do so much more editing to writing if the words are on the page and can be deleted in one second as opposed to erasing and rewriting thoughts for an assignment.

8. Staying connected: Disagree. I think students are often too connected and need a break from the electronics that surround us. What happens in the long run when communications shut down and people don’t actually know how to survive without Yahoo or Google telling them what to do? Food for thought!

9. Zero tolerance for delays: Agree. This generation is so used to getting things instantaneously; it has created a generation of impatient and impulsive people.

10. Consumer/Creator Blurring: Agree. With the end users being able to change data, there really isn’t a guarantee that any one person is responsible for data provided via the internet. Sourcing is becoming a nightmare and probably somewhat unreliable.

The bottom line is that technology, whether it the typewriter, the light bulb or a PDA, is a part of our daily lives. I am embracing the new advancements of today’s generation, but I will probably always hold true to my upbringing that nothing is full-proof. I plan to teach my students a balance between technology advancements and life skills that can be used to further education and learning for years to come.

This activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard five, Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership. After taking the quiz and reviewing the characteristics of the information-age mind set, I now have a better idea where I stand when it comes to technology and can use that to help in my teaching. In order to help students, you have to understand where they are coming from and that is why I think many teachers are not reaching their students. Professional development is crucial to keeping up with the current day and age, especially when technology is advancing so fast and changing every day!

Voki

Who would have thought years ago that a person would eventually be able to create an avatar of them self in order to teach? This week I had to create my own avatar and provide an introduction about myself using my voice. What a cool way to differentiate instruction!

The program I used to create my avatar was Voki. Apart from my Nintendo Wii mii person, I am new to the avatar creation realm! This activity was pretty cool because I got to put my actual voice with my introduction instead of some computer generated voice. The program was easy to use and I think it would be cool to create many avatars for different uses or specific learning times in the classroom. Here is link to my avatar... and my Google Doc introduction.

This activity goes along with the ISTE.NETS.T standard two and three. For standard two, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments, this activity incorporates different learning experiences through the use of avatars and personal voice. Teachers can use this tool to change up instruction methods and bring digital creativity to the classroom. For standard three, Model Digital-Age Work and Learning, by creating the avatar, the teacher is demonstrating the ability to use digital-age concepts in teaching. As avatars are becoming more popular each year, I’m sure there will be more and more use of these types of digital tools to help enhance classroom learning and instruction in the future.

Wordle

The technology standards for teachers have definitely changed over the past decade. In today’s activity I had to find and collect the NETS.T standards for 2000 and 2008. Once I found them, I created an image for each year through the use of Wordle.net. Wordle is a tool that can be used for creating graphic images in order to identify key words for a passage of text or just something that could be included in a document as a visual.

After I created the two Wordle’s, I analyzed the words that were larger than others (which meant they were repeated more often throughout the text). What I found was that the NETS.T 2000 standards focused more on technology as teaching tool and the NETS.T 2008 standards focused on technology as a learning tool for both students and teachers. I think before the standards were about utilizing technology to help teachers make instruction more diverse. Now the standards focus on providing tools for the teachers to implement to help students learn and to improve professional growth for the teachers. Click here to view my images through Wordle for the 2000 and 2008 NETS.T standards.

2000

2008

 

If I were to use Wordle in a classroom, I think I would use it for writing purposes. My activity would include taking a document/paper and creating a Wordle out of the text. The next step would be for my students to identify words that are used continuously throughout the paper and change them to make the paper more detailed or specific with a variety of vocabulary. Some students tend to use the same words over and over again in their writing. Wordle would be a good way to identify commonly used words that are over used and could be replaced with better words. Once the students saw the most common words, they could then go back and focus on improving the paper by changing words to include a variety of vocabulary.

This activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard one and three, Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity, and Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. Using Wordle with students allows for creativity and learning about text through colors, fonts and size. Wordle also helps the teacher to utilize digital tools in order to help students evaluate text and identify important terms in writing.

 

Wireless Mobile- Carpe Diem vs St. Mary's

For this week’s activity I had to listen to a webinar about the use of technology in school, most of which had to do with smart phones. The two different types of technology driven learning mentioned were Carpe Diem and St. Mary’s of Ohio. I had many thoughts about technology long before this assignment. Some of what I saw in the webinar goes along with my thinking that technology is only a part of learning and can be used to enhance learning but not to take over the classroom instruction.

In Carpe Diem, the students sit at cubicles for half of the day and work on learning via computer. The other half of the day is time spent in small groups for learning. The picture below shows the classroom and it seems kind of cold and unwelcoming. When I think about computers, sometimes I think it is an isolated world when you are working on them to learn. Being able to interact with other people and share your thoughts is a big part of the learning process.

 

For the St. Mary’s school in Ohio, students are learning through smart phones, but that is not the only instruction the students get. From the picture below you can see textbooks, smart phones and kids interacting together to learn. I think the students of this school all have cell phones provided by the school, but those phones cannot be used off school property.  The limited plan kind of defeats the purpose of learning through the smart phones when it comes to kids that have nothing at home. Students may not have access to the Internet or apps, therefore, this plan is limited to classroom only and at home is where many kids practice to enhance learning. However, I can see why the school has made the plan limited, there are always people that will abuse the system and theft probably has something to do with it as well.

 

I’m not a big a fan of Carpe Diem. I think setting kids off to learn on their own, even when they have technology to interest them, isn’t active learning. As the webinar pointed out, students learn by doing. Even though the students are doing something on the computer, they are not expanding what they are learning as they would when there is a group discussion. Also, software can be limited with information and unable to answer questions from the students. For my classroom, I would like to have the option that St. Mary’s is using to provide smart phones for the entire school. Even if the smart phones were rotating from classroom to classroom on a scheduled basis, I think there is value in learning through technology and smart phones. Besides, at some point, technology is going to be the only way to do things in the future! I’m not so sure I agree with that completely, but that discussion will have to take place another time!

I have a smart phone and think between my knowledge of the applications available and the experience I’ve had in this class in exploring the web, I could use technology in the classroom just fine.  Don’t get me wrong, I do think students need to learn how to do things without technology, but I think technology is a useful tool to enhance learning and make it more interesting.

For teachers in the field of education, it is important to keep up with the times. My suggestion would be to explore applications, software, and any other technology source that can be helpful, and then go to the administration with a proposal for increased technology in the school. I think it true with anything, when you have the data or information to back up your claim to someone (i.e.-that smart phones would enhance learning), it is more difficult for the other person to say no or disregard the information. Keep trying and someday you might succeed in getting smart phones in the classroom or for use in the entire school. If technology were to be highly included in the classroom, I would recommend that teachers get training (like the webinar from ISTE), and try different things in the classroom with small changes that include some type of technology.

I see myself executing both models in moderation in the classroom. I think it is important to allow students to learn through computers, smart phones and other devices. There has to be a balance in learning through technology. It can’t be that technology will replace teacher instruction. Technology needs to be a part of the classroom, but not the entire focus of the classroom.

This activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard five, Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership.  As teachers, we should constantly be learning and growing. Webinars are a way to learn about new things and share thoughts or questions with others. I think teachers will benefit and grow professionally when they embrace change and learn about new things that can enhance learning.

Excel T-Test

Get ready to embrace statistics! For this assignment I learned about t-tests and how they can help in evaluating quantitative data. Using the same 4th grade data set from the NCES that I used in the Excel Add-on blog post, I conducted a t-test analysis to determine whether or not gender has a significant impact on reading scores nationally between males and females in the 4th grade. After conducting this test, I then had to determine whether or not to accept or reject the null hypothesis based on the results. The Hypothesis states that there is a significant difference between male and female scores, where the null hypothesis states there is no difference at all.

In Microsoft Excel, I used the Data Analysis function to create a T-Test: Two-Sample Assuming Equal Variances table where the two samples included the male and female national reading scores. Based on the results, where the p value is greater than >.05, I must conclude that there is no significant difference in the scores, therefore accepting the null hypothesis. If the data was less than <.05, then the null hypothesis would be rejected and the data would show a significant difference in scores based on gender.

 

If I had to conduct such an experiment in my class, I think it would be useful to look at whether or not physical activity makes a difference in student test scores. My prediction is that physical activity would increase learning and test scores would rise. The mere fact that physical activity helps get more oxygen to the brain leads me to believe there is a valid reason to incorporate such activities to further learning outcomes. The following is what my experiment would look like.

Research Question: Do physical activity breaks in the classroom have an impact on student     learning outcomes?

Dependent Variable: Students learning in a traditional classroom

Independent Variable: Physical Activity incorporated into the traditional classroom

Hypothesis
H0: There will be a significant difference in student learning if physical activity is incorporated daily into the classroom curriculum.

H1: There will be no difference (null hypothesis).

Since this Excel activity involves statistical data and t-tests to compare student learning outcomes, I think this activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard number three, Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. When teachers are actively using digital tools such as the Excel Data Analysis Tools, they are utilizing available resources to determine outcomes and identify issues that may or may not be might not be impacting learning altogether.

 

Excel Add-Ons

For the most part, I think that anyone that uses a computer has had some dealings with Excel or another spreadsheet program. Spreadsheets are not hard to create, but if you really want your work load to be completed efficiently, then spreadsheets can be a valuable must-have tool if proper formulas and valid information are present!

For today’s assignment, I had to look at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to compare my home state’s score to the rest of the country. The first thing I had to do was search NCES for the data on the average reading scores for the 50 states, the District of Columbia and the National public. Once I entered the criteria, the data was available in a spreadsheet format.  I then downloaded the information to Excel so that I could work with the data.

The next step was to sort the total scores by lowest to highest. Once this was done, I needed to adjust the options of this spreadsheet to include an add-on called Analysis ToolPak so I could analyze the scores. It was pretty easy to add ToolPak as an add-on and once I did, I used it to create a Total Scores Descriptive Statistics spreadsheet. The data in this spreadsheet showed the overall average, mode, median, standard deviation, skewness and other information relevant when looking at the data as a whole. This is where the information became interesting and for me somewhat dismal. Interesting because it showed how states compared to each other in reading and dismal because I realized that WV is not doing so well! West Virginia is number 10 on the list which is below average. There are 9 below WV and 43 above WV, so you can see why my reaction was disappointment.

To see the information in graph form, I created a scatter plot chart to show the severity of my state’s position compared to others. The scatter plot can be viewed at Average Reading Scores.  By looking at the scatter plot, I think a person can really see the results and relate to the urgency of the need for education reform in reading!

 

Since this activity dealt with manipulating a data set to use as a comparison for the average reading score of the 50 states, D.C. and the national public, it complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standard number two, Model Digital-Age Work and Learning. I think this standard applies to this activity because the teacher can use Excel to help students look at data and manipulate it in a spreadsheet in order to utilize it. Just having the numbers in a spreadsheet is not enough. The teacher can show the students how to use formulas and add-ons in spreadsheets to compare, combine, and examine information more effectively.

Google Sites

In today’s age, having a website and providing information to the public is pretty common. For whatever reason someone wants to share information, it is pretty easy to design something that is user friendly, private, public, informative, educational, directional and even conversational much like this blog. So today I created a website for myself and it was extremely easy using Google Sites.

I logged into my Google mail account and then just clicked on the Sites button at the top of the page.  Once in the Sites section, I was able to click on Create a site and off I went! The setup was pretty straight forward and I even found a template that was simple and represented my future profession as a teacher.  The graphics on the page reminded me of Schoolhouse Rock and I love it!

After I setup the template, I had to add some pages and links to the documents I’ve created in my technology course. This was kind of tricky because I added some things in the wrong order, but was able to edit them in the layout section in the drop down box labeled “More” and everything ended up in the order I wanted it. The other thing I had issues with was the uploading. I forgot that even though there is an “add files” button at the bottom of each page, you still have to be in edit mode in order to upload anything. Once I figured that out, I was able to upload my resume and my rubric from last week.

It is definitely a work in progress, but for not having a classroom yet, I think I did okay. Click here to preview Mrs. Heflebower's Class website.

Since a personal website can be useful for anyone, this activity would be a great learning tool for students to learn about creating a website of their own where they have to edit, choose the content and topic, theme and layout appropriately.  This activity complies with the ISTE.NETS.T standards one, two and four. Standard one facilitates learning and creativity in which this activity completely encompasses. For standard two, the design and development of the website helps the students experience learning through digital media while they create a well-thought website to present to the public. The final standard number four promotes and models digital citizenship and responsibility. With this activity, students will learn about the appropriateness of content and language use within their personal website.

I think having a website is great, but I can already see how it is a lot of work to maintain to keep it interesting! I have my work cut out for me when I become a teacher!