Exit Slip

The group's presentation today on chapter 7 was presented in a very interactive and engaging discussion, which I enjoyed. The cons that we discussed, which include less social interaction, isolation, digital divide, and equal standards, were cons that I remembered from the reading.
And, I gained a new perspective from a comment that Caley made on the research mentioned in this chapter. The research that was discussed found that people are more prone to depression and loneliness because they are on the computer all day. However, Caley's insight, which was that these people may already be predisposed to depression regardless of the amount of time they spend on the computer, was something I initially did not think about when reading this.
The pros that were listed, which include that it is engaging, promotes individual responsibility, universal access, which promotes just-in time learning, customized learning, and it caters to all different learning styles, were pros that I had already acknowledged and agree with. The question I was asked to discuss is, how can we individualize education within the classroom? First of all, the main way to implement this in your classroom is by basing your planning and instruction on your children's individual needs, interests, and abilities. This is a very straight foward answer and in my opinion, it is an obvious answer; however, there are many teachers out there that plan and implement instruction without individualizing it to their students, which is obviously ineffective.
The contemporary issues briefly discussed today are issues that I was aware of. Kelly's contemporary issue that she discussed was very sad, and it makes me think that social networking and new technologies can be dangerous. Like Kelly said bullying will always happen in school but it stops when they go home, but with the internet, bullying continues at home through the internet. This is scary and a huge con to social networking, and I do not know how teachers could enforce this and prevent these type of situations to occur. And, the cool tool presentations were good resources that I could use in the future as an educator.

Ch. 7: What may be lost and gained

This chapter discussed the pros and cons to the changes that are occuring in our education system today. Overall, I viewed this chapter as a quick review to what I have read in the previous chapters. I acknowledge all of the promising aspects that this change can bring us. For example, this change allows education to be more engaging and entice people to want to learn more, it promotes on the spot learning aka universal access, which I believe to be the biggest pro in this change, and it provides immediate gratification and feedback. One benefit from this change discussed in this chapter that I do not agree with is how it fully eliminates competition because children can't compare themselves to others. I can see how that would eliminate some competition; however, my personal opinion is that for many children that competitive nature can be motivate some to strive higher and succeed.
In regards to what can be lost, I agree that socialization becomes a huge factor. I have always felt that when children are sitting at home on their computers all day instead of moving around and socializing with friends it promotes poor social skills. The reason that this issue concerns me is because regardless of their job these chidlren will work in a field that involves them cooperating/working with others. This book stated that this can also lead to a reduction in the amount of friends, less socialzing with family members, lonliness, and depression. So, in my opinion, the cons that this change can bring, ecspecially this issue of less social interaction, is worrisome to me basically because once the change is made it will almost be irreversible.

Exit Slip

Today, my peers and I discussed and presented the chapter that was required to be read for this week. Preparing and presenting the chapter allowed me to fully immerse myself in the content in this chapter. So, I feel that I learned this chapter the best out of all the chapters we have read so far, and I already discussed my thoughts on the chapter in my last blog.
Along with the chapter, all of the cool tool presentations were new resources to use that could be beneficial to me in my future. The dweeber website, which is an online social networking tool that focuses on school work, is a resource that I can share with my future students. It would be a great way to have my students become "dweebs" and work collaboratively with their peers. Also, the parentella website would be very beneficial for me as a future teacher. I viewed this website as a great resource to update and communicate with parents along with using newsletters, emails, and phone calls to communicate with parents.
In addition, the contemporary issues that were presented were very interesting. Online tutoring, how poverty effects young children, and using video games as a teaching tool. None of these issues were completely new to my knowledge; however, adding video games as an educational tool in the classroom is something I have never seen used before. I do see it beneficial to some children who will learn better with a more interactive and fun video game opposed to drilling information to children. In my opinion, a component to being a life long learner means being open and flexible to using new tools and being open to new ideas, like using video games for schooling, and applying them.

The Three Eras of Education

This chapter was very informative and insightful. It did a very good job on informing me on how our system has changed from the apprenticeship era to the Industrial Revolution era and how we are moving into the life-long learning era. This is also my chapter that I will be presenting on. I think the expectations, the content, the pedagogy, and the assessment topics are the most important to focus on. In regards to expectations, people are able to focus on what they want to learn for themselves. This section stated that enforcing specific standards to follow just limits a person's learning, and this point sums up something that I have felt ever since I chose to become an educator. So, I will remember this and account for this in my future as an educator. Also, the section on assessment discussed how in the life-long learning era the summative and formative assessment begin to intertwine, like in the apprenticeship era. When using a computer based program, the assessment is ongoing. The program will provide support while a person is completing a task by assisiting you if you need the help,and it will inform you when you make a mistake and it helps lead you to the correct answer. This embedding assessment is obviously more effective, and this is something that all teachers should recognize and apply. As educators, we should always keep in mind this evolving change to life-long learning and incorporate this into our classroom or more importantly, instill this in our future students.

Exit Slip

Today, the presentation on the chapter we read prior to this class was reinforcing. It reinforced what I learned and have me new insights on the topics discussed. It was interesting to hear other people's perspectives on home schooling and distance education. These two topics are the most controversial to me and I consider myself more on the cons side for both of these topics; however, it was interesting to hear the pros opinion and made me more open minded. The K12 site that was introduced to us today, that went along with the home schooling debate, was an insightful new resource.
In addition, all of the contemporary issues were very interesting. I learned something new from each comtemporary issue. I did not know that they were considering using a new test in place of the FCAT, which probably would be more beneficial than the FCAT. And, I never thought to use a touch screen computer to accommodate for different children's abilities. Also, the cool tools presentations were cool and new to me. I really like the twiddla and the go-animate site, and I have added all of them to my delicious page to use as resources in the future. Overall, I learned about a lot of new resources and technological tools to use as well as new insights about the chapter we read for this week.

The Seeds of a New System of Education

The classroom is primarily where schooling occurs. However, there are many new phenomenons that are developing that some believe evetually will have a bigger impact on schooling in the classroom. For instance, home schooling is prevalent now a days. Children are being educated at home by their parents. And, they have found that students who are home schooled achieve significantly higher test scores on standarized tests, which I was a bit surprised to learn this. Also, distance education is another very popular avenue for schooling. The virtual courses are very popular with college students, and it is said that soon virtual course will be used a large amount in high schools. In my opinion, I do not believe that the virtual courses are the most effective way to educate people. I think these virtual courses are impersonal and to me, learning is more effective when it is more personal. Just as an example, my sister is a freshman in college and took an online public speaking course. I think it is ridiculous to have an online course for a class like public speaking. It completely defeats the purpose of the course. However, I know there are pros to virtual courses ecspecially for people who may work full-time or have other conflicting time issues, or have a child. In addition, learning centers I view as a very positive, beneficial educational resource outside of the classroom. Leanring centers, like Sylvan, allow people to be tutored on topics that they do not know well and reinforce what they have learned.
One thing I want to mention was how the book stated that many adults return to schools to further their education, while others use the internet to gain new knowledge and learn about things that interest them. And, yes, I think it great to have access to internet at anytime; however, I hope that in the long run the internet is not solely relied on for education. I agree that we need to be life long learners and learn through other venues than the classroom, but I hope that all of these newly developing venues never discard the classroom. Even though the book states that they will not, no one knows what lies ahead in our future and I believe anything is a possibility.

Exit Slip

Today, the presentation done on chapter four was very informative and reinforced everything that I learned. When I read the chapter, I was a little overwhelmed with all the movements that we have experienced throughout history. The video they started their presentation with allowed me to tie everything that I read together. The small group activity was very beneficial to me because I was able to hear other peoples perspective on positives, negatives, and major implications of each change in history.
Also, Jeff's tutorial on audacity and garage-band I assume will be very helpful when I begin producing my podcast. I was very surprised how easy it is to make a podcast. It involves a lot of dragging and dropping, which I do not think will be very difficult.
The contemporary issue presentations addressed today were interesting topics that I was familiar with prior to their presentations. I enjoyed the topic about virtual field trips and the virtual courses, and I feel more compelled towards these topics. Virtual field trips are cool and I will use those in my classrooms in the future as an educator. However, some virtual courses that are offered seem to be ineffective to me. For instance, my sister took a public speaking virtual course, which to me just seemed counteractive to the purpose of that course.