A Nets Focus

My focuses will be on...


the fourth NET for students which highlights critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making.

This entails

• students to use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.

and the first NET for teachers which highlights facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity.

This entails

• teachers to use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.

Week 2

Sir Ken Robinson stirs up such hope for a new direction to which education should be taken.  It is an educator's call to arms for movement outward and not necessarily forward. When we look forward, our goals still match the road that we have been treading on.  Although he does not speak in specifics, so many different manners of which this idea could apply came like a flood.  A current example of how technology is helping change the look of education is in clicker classes.  I just love the idea of giving students the ability to respond in different ways other than just raising hands and answering questions.  Although I know that both have exceptions, merits, and flaws; it makes for a case that we should be pursuing more creative ways to draw in technology in a classroom.

I wonder if we could develop this idea further to have children with tablets to submit classwork while learning a concept.  (Traditionally: calling a student to the whiteboard/chalkboard to do math problems.)  Students could try their attempt in solving problems and on the board, it would anonymously display the full work of all the students on the smart board.  Teachers would be the ones to help correct without shaming the student by explaining why it may not work correctly--I'm thinking specifically Algebra in this case.

Week 1

I am not one of those people who had grown up knowing exactly what I wanted to do with my life.  It is strange how things just fall into place; hindsight leads me to know that God directed the moment where that changed.  I had gone to Kirkland to meet with a friend for coffee and stopped by the pre-school in which she had just started working.  The director of the school came over and gave me a tour of the school, and before I knew it, I was employed there that following Monday. After a few weeks, I just felt a joy that I had never experienced before and knew that teaching was the only job for me.

I think when technology is used well in a classroom, it can not only add to the effectiveness and efficiency of the  process but also change the dimensions of learning.  I find that my strength is in thinking outside of the normal ways of presenting material, so I am looking forward to enriching the imagination, development, and expression of education for children.  My only fear of technology is that it may just widen the gap of knowledge and opportunity even more between the socio-economic groups.  We might be looking at the provision for areas of low-income, but there are others in between (just above the low income threshold) who might not have the opportunity to have new technology.

Spring 2013 Fellow Bloggers

Class Blogs:

Erin

Heather

Ilona

Nicole

Jeff

Yuliya

Professor Adair