A Field By Any Other Name

Week Four Reflection- Reiser and Dempsey Chapter One

As I read chapter one of Reiser and Dempsey's Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology, I was pleasantly entertained to my surprise. It was interesting to read that the definition and name of our field dates back to the 1920s. I have to say I wasn't surprised exactly, but I had never thought about technology in its early years. I also had not thought about putting an exact definition on this field until Reiser and Dempsey introduced the idea. I think for the most part my idea of what "this" is compares closely to the modern definition written by Reiser and Dempsey. I feel it is very important to include all aspects mentioned (analysis, performance, design, development, implementation, evaluation, and management) to produce an accurate definition of Instructional Technology.

The path that instructional technology has taken to get to where it is now, is simply incredible. To think that years ago, a radio might be the most advanced piece of technology you could have in your classroom, if you were so lucky. Now we have classrooms that use interactive white boards, personal computers, ipads, document projectors, text messaging, and online course to name a few. I am really pleased to be a part of the growing classroom environment that includes technology.

In my career, I hope to be able to be a part of what Reiser and Dempsey define as Instructional Technology. I want to be able to implement technology into my own classroom, and later help other teachers and possibly districts implement and improve the technology that is available to them. I thin, with proper guidance and education, technology can be a perfect supplement in the classroom to facilitate learning.

It's Delicious!

It's Delicious! http://delicious.com/amberlynn118

Bookmarking Before It Was Social...

​I'm not a stranger to delicious.com, perhaps more of a long-lost friend. Several years ago, during my elementary internship, my site coordinator was very fond of delicious, and encouraged us all to use it for bookmarking lesson plan sites and other resources. I, being the techno-curious, tried it out. Back then, there was no social aspect of delicious.com. you simply added your sites and the showed on your main page in list form. Convenient. I used it a few times, but like other websites, got bored, lost my user info, and forgot about it.

​I have to say I like the updated version of delicious much more than its ancestor. It reminds me of pintrest.com, a site I am completely addicted to. The ability to bookmark (or pin) anything and have it be available wherever and whenever is great. I have added a 'save it on delicious' button (and a pin it button for pintrest!) on both my personal computers and my work computer. The mobility of sites like these makes life so much easier. I can't name the number of times I have wanted a site that was saved in my favorites folder, and been unable to find it on my own. Delicious.com makes that problem disappear.

​A site like delicious.com would be usable in any classroom. Teachers could design a stack for age appropriate websites, a stack for parent resources, a stack for district/school information, or even a stack to collaborate resources with other teachers and administrators. With the sharing option, these stacks could be accessible to anyone with the click of a mouse.

Wiki Wiki What??

Visit My Wiki!

I have to admit, at first I did not get the wiki site. I was confused and found my self wandering around the features, finding my own way. This is typically my learning style. It is difficult for me to read dry text and decipher what is needed, so I opt for the hands-on approach on my own.
Once I got the hang of pbworks, I noticed a lot of similarities between a wiki, blog, and the old school personal website. While the editing and visibility features a similar to a blog, allowing multiple pages is reminiscent of the personal websites many people used during the Web 1.0 era. In addition, wiki pages offer the unique option of multiple users, an option that I am not sure I am entirely comfortable with. Maybe it's just a touch of paranoia, but I feel really uncomfortable with the idea of allowing other users to edit my pages, while they are my responsibility.

As an early childhood educator, I don't imagine using a wiki with preschool age children any time soon. However, one of the struggles my building faces is the limited amount of time we have to accomplish many tasks. Using a wiki would make collaboration on lesson planning, community events, and general staff information. It could reduce the amount of long staff meetings and create a meeting ground for special committees.

If I were teaching in the older grades, I could see wikis being a valuable tool for things like research projects and group work. Students could report to their wikipage, hyper link sources and additional information, and collaborate on details, from virtually anywhere at anytime. The opportunity to work together in this way would reduce the amount of in-classroom group time and after school meeting inconvienience.

Overall, I felt like the wiki lesson was a valuable one. I was introduced to a technology I really didn't know existed. This is something I could potentially bring back to my work and share with my co-workers as a suggestion to solve our time crunch problem.

RSS, Blogging, Dale's Cone, & Falling Alseep...

As far as blogging and RSS feeds go, I am not new to the technology. I actually had an account already set up at blogger.com. A blog I posted to ONCE, and has since then, has sat empty. I have understood the appeal of blogging, but I guess I never thought of anything interesting to say. Which is an interesting thought in itself, because how many blogs out there are in fact interesting? Who knows? It is a technology that is available to anyone and everyone who wants to put their thoughts out there.

My RSS feed on the other hand, has been quite useful for entertainment purposes. I have several entertainment based feeds that I follow including EpicFailBlog, certain Facebook pages, and You Are Not A Photographer. My RSS feed tends to be something I go to when I am bored. I can see the usefulness of this when it comes to this class though. My RSS feed is linked to an application on my Android smart phone. I can pull it up anywhere and anytime I want. The only problem I have found so far is that some websites that link to the RSS do not post all of their information to the RSS reader. I follow WoodTV.com for breaking news, which happens constantly, however a post pops up on my RSS maybe once a month.

Siegel’s article Falling Asleep at Your Keyboard, reminds me of the advantages that technology like RSS feeds and blogs can bring to the classroom. The ease of use can be beneficial to parents, students, and the teachers, at the same time. Siegel points out that these types of computer imaginations has several advantages like being able to control what is seen, creating a community of users, and the ease of updating. Parents with several children or schools in their family could easily follow all the necessary people or place on one RSS feed, and eliminate visiting each schools website individually.

As a student and a teacher, I can see the benefits of both blogging and RSS feeds in the classroom. Students could follow teacher’s blogs on RSS to keep up on information and homework, while teachers could use the same technology to keep up with student reflections and written work by utilizing blog feeds instead of physical paper. The increasing popularity of smart phones makes this technology even more useful, as the ability to go mobile becomes more prominent.

While all of these things prove themselves quite useful to me, I had a difficult time placing them in one single level of Dale’s Cone of Experience. I found that the RSS feed and blogs have the ability to cross several levels depending on the type of media being posted. For the most part I feel like these technologies fall into the “Recordings, Radio, and Still Picture” category, even though the name may suggest otherwise. While the majority of blog and RSS posts are written word, many members choose to post photos, videos, diagrams, recordings, and similar media to enhance the “following experience.” While most of these types to posts tend to fall into the top half of the cone, Bloggers could also use links to sites that enhance the experience like virtual exhibits or tours, or interactive models and simulations, which fall into the lower part of Dale’s cone.

While the technology of RSS and bogs misses out on the hands on or real life experiences that Dale’s cone suggests are the most valuable, they can definitely make the learning experience more interesting for students and manageable for parents and teachers.

Reflecting on Postman, Reigeluth & Joseph

Week 1 Reflection
As a preschool teacher, technology plays a very different role in my classroom, compared to upper elementary or secondary education. We look for ways to enhance learning experiences through technology. The uses of technology in a preschool classroom require teachers to facilitate the learning. A large majority of students enter preschool without knowledge of computers or other learning technology. As I read through the two articles, I found myself referring to my own classroom and relating the examples to things that could or do happen with my students.

After reading the article by Postman, I felt quite offended. To think that there are people out there who believe technology could replace the social experiences and emotional learning that a young child learns when provided those opportunities by a teacher is appalling. While, yes, they may learn social/emotional lessons at home or in their community, it is important to have those experiences in a classroom environment. Technology will never teach a four year old to stand up for his rights or teach a three year old to share their toys. Postman’s idea that “the principal function of school is to teach children how to behave in groups” is exactly on target. I don’t believe this is the only goal of education, but a very big one, especially in early childhood. However, he goes on to say “school has never been about individualized learning” and that is a point, I believe, is incorrect. As preschool teachers we are constantly adapting and changing lesson plans to create more individualized lessons and technology can be great in assisting those opportunities. For example, a preschooler who struggles with hand control or other fine motor skills could largely benefit from an iPad application that requires touching, dragging, and clicking on various objects.

In Reigeluth and Joseph’s article I felt that technology was almost glorified as being the answer to every problem in education (except the budgets of course!). I thought table 2, Principles for a Learning-focused Paradigm of Education was interesting. I can see where some of the things presented are likely to become a reality, if they are not already. For example, peer-assisted learning is already very prominent in many classrooms, as teachers look for ways to incorporate different learning styles of students. However, the idea of authenticity is pushed beyond reasonable limits. It is important for students to get an authentic, close to life as possible experience, but who’s to say what is relevant to a student’s life? Especially to a young student. What may seem relevant today, may be completely irrelevant to their education in ten years.

In summary, I felt like both articles had valid points, but pushed too extreme circumstances for technology in education. While Reigeluth and Joseph’s article was far too supportive of technology, Postman’s article minimized the possibilities and potential for technology as a supplement to learning.