Organization!

Previously I thought I was more of a paper and pencil organizer (for the most part). I would try to write down assignment on my calendar and try to keep all my notes in one place. No matter how hard I tried I happened to forget my calendar at home or misplaced some notes. It was frustrating at times because I would need the notes or double book events. I learned to appreciate technology more. I began to use my calendar on my phone (because who leaves home without their phone?) and started typing notes instead of just relying on my handwritten ones. But somehow I still managed to lose the bytes in my computer.

This assignment of having to research an organization tool was great for me because I got to learn a lot about organization online. These program can be accessed by a few clicks and can store important information. I had the assignment of researching Google Drive. It was amazing to see all the features that Google Drive has! One of the new things I learned how to use in Google Drive was Google Hangouts. This allows for groups to work together AND see the same document and work o it at the same time (groups anyone?).It can be tricky to use and sometimes it feels like Google Hangouts just don't want to work. But for the times that it does I think this is a great way to work in groups and get group work done without having one person keep all the notes. The notes/presentation can be saved in Google Drive.

Speaking of saving documents, Google drive works great as a storage for your files, yay! Google Drive allows you to upload files and access them when needed. For example, my EDUC 504 notes can be saved there and even if I forget my notebook at home I can still pull them up in my laptop and not have to worry about not having them. Google Drive also allows for the creation of forms. Rory was talking to my group as we were talking about Google Drive and he explained to us how convenient  the forms are.  They can e used to create surveys for students and gather information quickly. This is something I will be using to get to know my students.

We also learned about Evernote. I thought Evernote came really handy in organizing class lectures and for the future lecture plans we will all be doing. Grace talked about how you can arrange lecture notes for different classes in Evernote and access them quickly. I though this was neat to have a folder for every class and keep lectures organized and not having to go through all the documents to find that one lecture note.
Blendspace was another tool presented. This I found to be great for presentations and lectures. Megan modeled how a class lecture would take place. I really liked the fact that you could put in a quiz in the middle and have students answer the questions to check on their understanding and making sure they are all paying attention. You can incorporate pictures, videos, and quizzes in the lecture/presentation. One concern we had about using Blendspace was that it would be come too regular and the students would loose interest, how can we keep this form happening?

Video games I choose you! (To Learn)

The Gee reading mentions how video games can encourage risk taking for the players. I can't help and think about school and how afraid I was of taking risks in fear of failing. It was terrifying to "go outside of the box" because if I didn't follow the rubric given I was bound to be penalized. I remember that taking different routes in Legend of Zelda allowed me to explore a bigger area than if I had only followed the first route I took. In the pokemon games I was able to challenge myself with different opponents found in different terrains. In school we should be allowing students to explore the material but how can we achieve this when we are also pressed in time to cover all the objectives in the small amount of time given?
I also remember that the faster you got things done the "better" student you were considered. This left little to no room for further research or exploration. Learning the facts and being able to "spit" them back out was the best strategy to earn good grades but after the test the facts were free to leave our brains. There was little to no room for learning and critical thinking. I realized how much I had missed out in high school when in college my microbiology professor gave us a test where only five points where based on memorization and the rest on applying the knowledge to answer the questions. I enjoyed being challenge by this puzzle test because I was able to remember what I learned in class.
Another topic covered in the reading is performance before competence. I couldn't help but think back to the many trial and errors I had while conducting research. It took me a couple times of running a protein gels to actually be able to competently run them to be able to use them for data analysis. How can we expect students to walk into the classroom and not make errors along the way? If the students where competent in the subject then why is there a need for us to teach them? We wan to be able to stimulate student to become competent learners.
Playing Brain Pop (Grow your own cell) was interesting... I knew most of the information and it wasn't very action packed. It was mostly and informative activity. I think the game is appropriate for someone who is just learning about the cell as an introduction to the unit.

Online Assessment Discussion 7/16/2014

As I pressed start on the test it was Deja Vu for me, I was back taking the GRE. I was prepared for the GRE, I had taken practice test and even completed the tutorial on how to navigate through the test several times. I hadn't put much thought into the hinderance that came into play when students did not know how to navigate the test.  As I clicked start on the test and received the first question I was immediately encountered with a navigation problem. It's hard to imagine that if me, a person familiar with computers and online testing, had problems with navigation then how would the students who have little or no experience feel? This affects their tests scored because they might get frustrated and the navigation and pay less attention to the content.
In class we did the activity of some of us having one or more restriction. I was supposed to write an essay in 30 min using only both of my index fingers. I was frustrated on trying to type as fast but at the same time being cautious. This applies to the online test, what about students with restrictions? Perhaps this can help them but we didn't go into a discussion about this in the class.
Something tat struck most of us was the fact that some of the questions in the test were not clearly labeled. Liz brought up the point that if they are embedded in the text you are reading, the student spends more time looking for the question than actually answering the question. Again, time is wasted in the logistics rather than being spent on the content.
If studies have been done that show that testing on paper tends to yield better scores as opposed to online testing, why are we moving forward to online testing. One of the briefly discussed reasons in class was that it was cheaper for not only the schools but the government. It is also convenient for testing. I remember having to wait a couple of weeks to obtain my SAT/ACT scores, but when I took the online GRE my scores were available sooner. In context of this class, preparing students for future technology use is imperative. We need to prepare our students for living in 2014 where technology is all around us.

July 15, 2014

“Psychological and social sides are organically related and that education cannot be regarded as a compromise between the two, or a superimposition of one upon the other” ~John Dewey

While reading Dewey I couldn’t help but think back at my own elementary and secondary education. He brings up the point that both psychological and social experiences are essential to learning. He also points out that you cant give one more importance and neglect the other, this will not allow for efficient learning. I remember that in high school most of my teachers neglected the social aspect of learning. I wondered how different high school would have been had the school implemented both social and psychological experiences in the classroom.

I think this is relevant to technology in the aspect that Dewey supports social experiences. Working in groups can sometimes be challenging especially if students have to work in groups outside of the classroom. This is where technology comes in; students don’t necessarily have to be in the same room to collaborate with each other. Now notes can be shared and discussions can take place simultaneously through technology.

Another point that Dewey mentioned was that schooling ‘s focus should be on preparing students to be able to live on their present society since the future is uncertain and we can’t make predictions on what the future society will look like. It might be that I have been brought up with the idea that what I do in the present will affect the future that I disagree with Dewey on this. How can we only prepare students to live on the current environment and not for the future? In today’s society, technology is noticeably present but how can students be prepared for the future if they limit their learning to just today’s technology and not in the advancement of technology?
Dewey took a stance against the "sage on a stage approach of teaching science. I agree with Dewey, science education is diminished when students are used as pools to be filled. Instead I believe students should learn by also being active in hands on activities. A student can read about an experiment but would retain and learn more from actually doing the experiment and having that experience to apply the scientific method. Some of the more engaging classes I took included hands on learning and I noticed that the class was involved more than those classes who only lectured. Technology plays an important role here, the computer labs can be used to do virtual experiments.