1+EDTC+5103+Introduction

EDTC 5103 Advanced Computer Applications in the Classroom Spring 2010 Module 1: Introduction

"Why do you use that stuff?" a colleague asked, gesturing to the computer in the classroom. I explained that I use “that stuff” to help students make a more meaningful connection between the textbook information and what we discuss in class, in a format that is familiar to them. The colleague seemed to scoff at the idea, mentioning something to the effect of “nose in a textbook to find meaning.”

I thought back to the items we have used in class since I began teaching at NOC. Students have always used word processing programs to complete assignments, and I have always used an Elmo/overhead projector, sometimes showing the computer screen, sometimes in the “old-fashioned” way (as one student put it). We view videos and photos online as writing prompts. We use an online submission site for papers, forum and FAQs, and online journaling, messaging, and discussions. Students can check class notes, finding discussion notes, page assignment numbers, and often additional resources that can be used as clarification and/or reinforcement. We use PowerPoints mixes with internet research, and students present a final project, using some type of technology (often PowerPoint, video, captured stills).

Students can contact me via email, and recently more have moved to FaceBook messages or friend requests to establish additional lines of communication. Though many have commented these are “basic” forms of technology, they are often a new experience for many students, both traditional and non-traditional. In zero level and one thousand level classes, I often see my use of technology in the classroom as an ice breaker, for students getting to know more about me and their classmates, but also as an ice breaker (for many of them) for getting to know their way around technology.

For all the articles warning of the perils of the game systems and the internet ruining relationships, I see ways they allow me to spend time with others, both in person and in the virtual world.

I was concerned when we got our first game system, concerned about the way it would “close-off” communication between my kids and me. However, we have monitored playtime and used the system as a way to share fun, competition, strategy, and logic. We all enjoy learning games on the hand-held system, like //My Spanish Coach// and //Big Brain Academy//, but we also enjoy the challenge of beating an old record, or each other, on MarioKart.

When my mom got her first computer, I was able to spend time with her, helping her learn to send emails and navigate the internet. At home, I spend time with my kids, playing on Webkinz World, creating online learning activities, or researching travel sites we will visit. We are able to find apartments overseas, make contact and arrangements with the owners of the flat, and find attractions (and groceries) near and maps of the surrounding area so we’ll have an easier time once we arrive.

Through others sharing resources, we have discovered public live-feed cameras in several areas we visit, and are looking forward to a fun, new way of communicating with friends and family back home when we are abroad.

I see my father-in-law’s column being distributed to people he’s never met. As a retired band director, principal, and newspaper column writer and editor, and (current) avid traveler, he has seen a lot. He moved his family to Oklahoma to California and back again. From there they moved to Australia for a year. Upon their return to Oklahoma, they continued to travel around the United States and abroad. He has seen and experienced a lot. His writing has always given him an outlet for the observations, stories, and lessons he has seen. Since his “retirement,” he has been able to continue sharing his writing with friends and contacts around the world through email.

FaceBook is another application that has aided in the reconnection with old schoolmates, easy communication between current friends, and a more accessible forum for communication with students. Several semesters ago, the study abroad group at NOC sent emails to relay information concerning meeting times and reminders for requirements. Today, they create a FaceBook group account, allowing centralized communication that is used more than email by most students.

In addition to creating an easy way for groups to access information, the internet has allowed me to bring resources into my classroom I would not have had access to otherwise. Resources like video clips, images, articles, central student-only discussion boards, and informational sites on the internet are great and have allowed me to expand beyond the textbook and the world students come from, and make connections between stories in the textbook and their hometown experience and the larger world around them in a format many of them have grown up with. I am currently working on a plan for either integrating a blog component into my classes or developing a writing class that would allow for online public publishing as well as a print publishing option.

For now, I use a private publishing site for students-only. Screening technologies on the submission site, have allowed me to be able to illustrate concepts like plagiarism in a manner that is personal and realistic to students. When they “borrow” information, it doesn’t seem to them there is anything amiss. When they see a red “22% from other resources” notice at the top of a submission, a realization occurs that the information they submitted is not theirs.

In my own studies, I have taken hybrid and online classes. Hybrid classes are the best of both worlds. (Great, now I have Hannah Montana stuck in my head.) I can navigate the discussions, seeing the perspective of classmates, then making the connection to them personally when we meet in real-life. The communication used in online classes has emphasized the need for clarity in writing, which I can take back to my own teaching. I am able to pull up examples from (online) conversations that actually occurred to illustrate examples of miscommunication, lack of clarity, or lack of examples to explain or illustrate a point so others can understand.

The internet would not be accessible to them as a class without other technologies like projectors, and even the motorized viewing screen and window shades are technologies that aid in discussion, thought, and evaluation. The more senses I am able to engage, the better the lesson or idea will stick with my students.

Now, if there was a smell-synthesizer application for those pictures of the mountains or hot apple pie we use for the descriptive unit pre-writing…