Notes on Technology Use in Education

As I was reading parts of the most recent issue (Oct.2010) of The Journal [dedicated to Transforming Education through Technology], I thought I'd share some of my notes on the topics of:

     a. what is technology literacy

     b. Fed spending on the development of new, high-stakes language arts & math assessments

     c. some useful examples of modeling uses of technology in education

     d. some good online sources of information on the use of new technologies

See my notes below & hopefully you'll find this interesting. 

Editor’s note [from The Journal]: technology literacy is “proficiency with the larger system of our invented world…” & citing an author from the NYTimes, the editor said, “… minimum technology that will maximize options is for every student and teacher to have instant access to the Internet…   If we listen to technology and learn to be able to harness it’s ways, then we will be able to harness the most powerful force in the world.  If not, we will be stuck at the bottom of the class.

Fed. $330 mil funding to 2 orgs to develop alternatives or supplements to existing high-stakes testing methods & find alternative assessments focused on math & language arts for grades 3 through 12 & expected to be in use by 2014-2015; see http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/facts.html

See tech-in-ed.ning.com with 3k members designed to show teachers what Web 2.0 tools they could use

How music teachers got their grove back: Sunset Ridge Shool in Northfield, IL & Sherwood High in Sandy Spring, MD & Greenwich High in CT: changing the way music is taught from performing art to creating art; interact with it digitally; sources of info:

·        Music Ed.’s Prof. Learning Network: misicpln.org: free online social network for peer support

·        Tech. Instit. for Music Educators: ti-me.org

·        Nat. Assoc. for Music Ed, menc.org

Dream on, by John Waters:  Visionary: either one whose ideas are impractical or on having unusual foresight & imagination must imagine & guide technology-driven initiatives, some of which may be considered impractical… but must have knowledge & skills required to make the vision happen; visionary: “one who sees”  ck Latin root

·        Teaching how to be intelligent consumers of Web-based info as well as creators of it; focusing on 9^th & 10^th grade journalism: features, reviews, opinions & news: see The Paly Voice: Palo Alto H.S.

·        Defining what 21^st Cent. Classrm should be: call it a “responsive classroom”; a place enabling the coordination of on-line & clsrm teaching; Hornell City School District (NY) uses OK-based Advanced Academics; don’t call it “virtual learning” as that can turn teachers off; rather call it using a “blended model” in which teachers are coaches & guides working with students on projects individually & in small grps; use project-based learning ; physical traits of rms: use moveable glass dividers that can be made opaque; every rm with interactive whilte board & projector & a Harkness table (ck) with built-in touch-screens for interaction between students & teacher; telepresence system from Cisco to host experts & people from other countries; their grad rate from 58 to 86% in past 4 yrs

·        Albuquerque P.S.: 139 bldgs/90k students: APS e-learning initiative & efforts to get funding for LMS (learning management system); encouraged by Gov.Bill Richardson & backed by both Dems & Reps; to be an inclusive state-wide e-learning initiative through NM Pub.Ed.& Higher Ed.Dept.: IDEAL-NM: 1^st to encompass all stages of learning for teacher prof devel., continuing ed & workforce ed; uses a single state-wide LMS Web conf. system & helpdesk open to all schools, higher ed & govt; designed to facilitate internal collaboration & coll. Between school districts

·        HTH:  in San Diego Co., High Tech High: purpose of tech our schools is about production, not consumption; it’s about doing & building; students use leading edge technology to research, produce & present across disciplines; inquiry-based; some traditional “vocational” training segregated students… we are under-utilizing human capital; we all know that the level of educational attainment is the strongest predictor of wage rates; the single biggest source of opportunities to rise above economic & social disadvantage is education; what can technology do? Through simplicity, elegance, ubiquity & access, provide children with the ability to do things they could not otherwise do… providing options