This past class a few things occurred: first, we discussed
in small groups the uses of technology resource we researched and second, we
played twenty questions. The beginning discussions and explanations of our
resources were extremely interesting. It was fascinating to hear about all of
the different tools available for people to “organize their online life.”
I had originally gone into class thinking that my website, Gooru,
was really cool and useful, (as you can see from my past blog post), but when I
heard from M and D about their tools, Diigo and Evernote, I realized Gooru left
a little to be desired. To begin with it focused mainly on subjects centered on
science and math. I think it would have been much more useful if I were not an
ELA teacher. Second, the platform seemed to allow for a one-way transmission of
information from teacher to student. Basically what you were able to do was
create folders of different resources (videos, lesson plans, etc.) you could
then share that information with your students so that they could view it. You
could also type up assignments or quizzes (I wasn’t able to figure out how to
make a quiz) for students to do.
What you COULDN’T do was upload your own lesson plans or
outside videos to your folder, so that all of your information could be in one
place. You also couldn’t upload your own assignments for your students to do,
and your students also couldn’t upload anything for you to see. Like I said, it
seemed very one sided with the teacher just blindly giving information to the
students.
The other tech. tools I learned about though happened to be
very useful. I downloaded Evernote and
have been using it to take notes all week. I plan to fiddle around with it some
more and figure out more things I can do with it when I have some free time. I
also downloaded Diigo. I really like this program for reading online texts for
class. I can highlight and take notes all on a website and then save all of my
websites and pages to one spot so I have them for later (when I need to
reference them for an essay or project.) Overall what our group discussed was
that all of these tools have very different aspects that are useful but you
still have to have three different tools to be able to do these things. It
would be even more helpful if this all could be done in one place.
I have to be honest and say I wasn’t a fan of the twenty
questions game. I understand its purpose and think it’s a great way for
students to think about the kinds of questions they want to ask when solving a
problem and how to strategize when solving that problem, but I think our class
was a bit large for it. It was kind of frustrating to have to discuss and argue
about every single question (especially the first five!) I would implement it
in smaller groups so that students still have that time to think aloud but
allow for decisions to be made at a faster rate.
"...all of these tools have very different aspects that are useful but you still have to have three different tools to be able to do these things. It would be even more helpful if this all could be done in one place."
ReplyDeleteAh, the Swiss Army knife of technology. It seems that the iPhone is instructive on this point. The iPhone (as an avatar for all smartphones) has made it possible to watch movies, take pictures, schedule meetings, play games, check email, text, tweet, and troll. And yet, each of those capacities is diminished in some respect.
The email functions aren't as robust. The pix are serviceable, but not great. The movies are tiny. And as for the music, since the iPhone grew out of the iPod... well, we're so used to hearing the tinny sound of 128kbps in earbuds that we hardly notice how small that sound really is. This is partly because we get used to what we're hearing, and partly because we're not really listening anymore. Music is a (+) event: I'm writing a paper (+music), I'm running (+music). Point being: we're used to getting far less out of our tech, if we can have all the functionality wrapped up into a single, sleek package.
It seems like the there is a meta-message about the importance of focus and doing a job right in the iPhone. Although on the one hand it represents a fair amount of ingenuity, it also represents the triumph of convenient over performance. Perhaps there's something salutary in simply doing one thing right?
I loved the 20-questions game, but sympathized with the frustration when the game bogged down. (In the Blue Cohort) We never got passed the sixth question before the game ended and we had to move on to the next topic. I wish that we had time to play it again.
ReplyDeleteYour evaluation of Gooru was interesting. It is funny that (in the STEM group) we've been talking about how teaching is a collaborative task, rather than an action of transmission. At the same time, Gooru seems set up for the wrong teaching model.
Have a good weekend.
It would be interesting to know how STEM people reacted to Gooru. I know I would have liked it a lot more if it focused on the Humanities as much as the Sciences. What about it is the wrong teaching model? How would you change it if you could?
DeleteI'm glad we at least got past the sixth question in the 20-questions game. Like I said, if I was to utilize it in my own classroom I would break the class down into smaller groups so that everyone would have a chance to try out different approaches, and hopefully the class would end up being a little more productive. Do you think you would utilize it in your class, and what for? As an ELA teacher I might use it for different characters or even books.
I hate the idea of having to use a bunch of different apps or programs to do a bunch of different things. It really stresses me out, but that is our current reality. The more pages of apps I have on my iPhone screen, the more anxiety I have! What am I using all of these for? Could any of them be consolidated? Do I even need them at all?
ReplyDeleteThere will always be new apps and programs that can make something simpler, but I think that together, they make everything more complicated because they're all separate from each other. Google, as I'm learning, seems to have a pretty good suite of tools available, what with e-mail, calenders, blogs, groups, documents, etc. It makes me feel much better that I have all of these things in one place, tied to one account. If only this were more common in the world of technology!
It's interesting to see that you and Michael have different opinions on this subject. While I tend to side with you (it would be so much more convenient!) I can also see Michael's point. Would it be possible to have all those apps consolidated without losing the quality of each individual app? I think that in time it could work. I love that you referenced google! Now that I'm thinking about it I've learned way more about google in these few short weeks than ever before. it's convenient to be able to collaborate, keep a calendar, e-mail, etc. And it all works great, no loss of quality that I can see (others may disagree.) But how could this be done with sites such as Gooru, Pinterest, Evernote, and more?
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ReplyDeleteGreat post! I agree that the 20 questions game could have been a lot less frustrating with 10 players instead of 20. Maybe it was a metaphor for the difficulties of teaching large classes? Or the inherent arduousness of trying to change things for the better in the behemoth of a public educational system? (In my high school, we learned that, when in doubt, we should assume the main character was a Jesus figure, but I don't think that applies here.)
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a good point that it's frustrating when we need three tools to do anything. Erin - you mention google as a model for everything-in-one-place - but at what cost? Remember what Rachel showed us about the information Google has on her emailing habits? It's kind of chilling if you think about it.
Michael - I like your point about music being an add-on. It's a two-pronged problem - we have become semi-addicted to background music, so that we are bored without it, and we are less likely to pay attention to music at concerts because we're so used to it being background. I have been to live concerts where you can't even here the musicians over the audience's chatting! (Grumble grumble kids these days get off my lawn etc) But in all seriousness, I think it's really too bad, and I hope we reverse the trend of "multitasking" without paying attention to anything we're doing. Also - I like that you consider trolling to be a legitimate activity
This post was written without background music. Just in case you were wondering. (:
Naomi,
ReplyDeleteThis post is being written without background music too :)
So I guess what I'll ask is whether or not this desire to have all of our technological tools in one place is another representation of our need for instant gratification? Is one more important than the other?
In regards to music I still have a "dumb phone" as opposed to a smart phone. I just know that I wouldn't use all of the add-ons like music and games. What do these add-ons on a smart phone actually do? Are they helpful? Do they alleviate boredom? Or do they just segregate us and prevent interactions?
I guess I'll just finish by asking if you have a smart phone and what extra apps you use.