Video Podcast - Integrating Google Cardboard

Hi everyone. This week I am sharing an interview with an Elementary Technology Integration Specialist and we're discussing how she helps teachers to integrate an emergent technology (Google Cardboard/Cardboard Virtual Reality) into their classrooms. She begins with discussing an initiative that started the integration project, then talks through ways that she jumped off from that and helped to make it into something for our district, then finally discusses how she could do something like that with me in my classroom.

In considering adult learning we focus on how she works with teachers to implement the technology to K-6 primarily, though some in secondary grades as well. We discuss some of the pitfalls that she had to overcome in working with teachers with this initiative and pitfalls that she still continues to address. I have her focus a lot on teaching the teachers, since that is my adult learning audience, however, we talk about how they will integrate it into their elementary or secondary classrooms.

Thank you Ivy Nelson for an awesome interview about a very cool technology!

 

I feel the need to update this to share that this was originally a 19 minute long interview. If it seems a bit choppy, I tried my very best to make it make sense and limit it to 10 minutes. I definitely put my editing skills to the test. I got down to deleting "umms" toward the end to keep as much content as I could. 

Thank you for listening and I hope you enjoy!

Using Wiki for an 8 Week Class - Lesson Plans

Hello readers,

Today I'm sharing some ideas that I came up with for a class of my own. Now I'm in this class because I'm working on my building leader's license and degree in Educational Leadership, so I've chosen to create a course that I could use if I were a principal at my school. I'm at a STEAM school and we're still working to integrate all of our subject areas well since this is only our second year, so I decided to create a plan that could go with that.

When I was choosing PLCs I went through and found this article that shared information on using Wiki to help early career teachers. In the study they found that using the wiki for early career teachers to engage with mentor teachers significantly improved their perception of inquiry knowledge and they had improved attitudes towards wikis (Kim, Miller, Herbert, Pedersen, & Loving, 2012, p. 450). Based on the reading this week I think my Wiki project would fall under Wiki Projects for Contextual Application because it is bringing "together information, concepts, and theories and applying them to new situations or problems" (West & West, 2009, p. 34). I created the initial framework for the Wiki so that it will be uniform across my grade levels since I will have to make a copy for each. I've included the assessment measurement as it will be applied to their evaluation and linked the Growth Guide that it connects to on the document so that they know how they will be evaluated. I think using the rubric that was shared by our district will be helpful in making sure they take the task seriously, though as a teacher I might be annoyed to receive this. In trying to follow the directions on pages 31-45 of West & West I felt it was necessary for this project, despite how I would feel about it as a teacher.

Teachers would do some reading throughout the week that I have included on the Slide that I've included and then they will work on finding resources. On Tuesday or Wednesday during that grade level's PLC time they will bring those materials and their knowledge from the reading to plan together for integrating different subject areas each week. They would need to take standards from their grade level in order to implement this and create a lesson plan each week that could be used sometime throughout the year that integrates the subject areas that I included in each slide of the Google Slide that they would be using. I chose Google Slides as our Wiki platform, because I see Google Docs as a Wiki (since it was defined as one by West and West) and based on the fact that my district uses Google for just about everything. My teachers will know that their work will be a part of the district curriculum and will be put into the district's curriculum which is run on Google Docs, so all teachers throughout the district will be able to see it and use it.

My teachers all have received district provided training on Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, etc. so I don't have to teach any of those things. I've created a Google Slide for them to share and work on. On the left I've provided their reading and assignment, on the right they will link their lesson or project along with any videos, links, etc. that they need to provide. They can use Docs to link back and I've provided a lesson planning template for them that we use with our curriculum.

Attached is my 8 Week Course. Each grade level would receive a copy of this and I would eventually link the completed lessons onto the curriculum website wiki.

Kim, H., Miller, H., Herbert, B., Pedersen, S., & Loving, C. (2012). Using a wiki in a scientist-teacher professional learning community: Impact on teacher perception changes. Journal Of Science Education & Technology, 21(4), 440-452.

West, J. and West, M. (2009). Using wikis for online collaboration: The power of the read-write web.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Wikis in the Classroom - Pros and Cons

I learned something new this week. Google Docs is a wiki. My mind is blown. I have never studied wikis or been taught about them before. I've used Wikipedia to research things and I knew people could edit it. I'd never seen the real definition or been given examples of wikis, so when I read that I realized I had lied earlier when I said I had no experience with wikis. If Google Docs is a wiki, then I'm super experienced, I just didn't even begin to realize it.

So after that aha moment while I was reading, I will get into the pros of using wikis with adult learners. First of all, they are a fantastic way to collaborate. As King and Cox (2011) put it, "Powerful aspects of wikis in higher education are their collaborative and community-building power" (p. 124). In my experience using a Google Doc to collaborate with other teachers is about the easiest thing ever. I open it, share it, then we can look at the same thing and edit at the same time. Not only that, West and West (2009) point out that, "Activities that promote interaction and collaboration with their peers are becoming an integral part of how students learn" (p. 2). We're able to collaborate and not have to take turns while doing it. Another pro of wikis is that they are so easy to use. King and Cox share that only a basic understanding of technology is necessary to access, create and update technology (2011, p. 122). The fact that wikis are so easy means that there isn't a lot of up front teaching necessary, making it easier to implement in adult education. Since so many adults have such a variety of experience with technology, the easier the better. I may be able to edit more quickly and efficiently in Google Docs, but my coworker who is less technologically savvy is able to work her way through it only asking a few questions along the way as opposed to other technologies that we have to use at work.

I could go on and on with the pros because I obviously love Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, Classroom and so on, but I will refrain and move on to a few of the downfalls. One downfall would be the ability for others to edit the wiki. King and Cox admit that wikis "can be edited by any individual who may post inappropriate or irrelevant content to the wiki" (2011, p. 123). They also continue on to share that there are ways to avoid that by using administrative features to protect the content or to revert to previous versions, (King and Cox, 2011, p. 123). In using Google Docs this week I accidentally pasted over something I meant to copy, but was able to quickly rectify the situation. You can revert back to a previous format as easily as you can mess up the current one. Another con for wikis is that they are an asynchronous form of communication. Hazari, North and Moreland (2009) put it this way, "A group can collaborate more effectively in a “live” Web 2.0 format, as compared to asynchronous messaging used in most existing course- management tools which takes more time to arrive at a consensus between members and limits spontaneous group collaboration," (p. 195). Being able to have a face to face, voice chat or video chat conversation can greatly add to collaboration and make wikis better. When working at home with a colleague on a Google Slide presentation it's a slower process than working while sitting next to him or her and being able to discuss what we're collaborating on.

There are obviously many more pros and cons, but these are just a few to consider when considering adult learners and wikis.

References:

Hazari, S., North, A., & Moreland, D. Investigating pedagogical value of wiki technology. Journal of Information Systems Education, 20(2), 187-198.

King, K. & Cox, T. (2011). The professor’s guide to taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

West, J. and West, M. (2009). Using wikis for online collaboration: The power of the read-write web.  San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

The Pros and Cons to Blogging

Blogging is definitely a resource for adult education as it is a very popular practice that has way more meaning than I even knew before I read the content for this week. For instance, I didn't know blogs were more than an online diary before today. I have certainly read many blog entries, but until reading for this class I had no idea that blogs are actually, "a frequently updated Web site characterized by a reverse chronological listing of entries that can be searched, archived, and categorized according to labels, called tags, assigned by the author" (King & Cox, 2011, p. 90). I also didn't know that hyperlinks were such an important feature of a blog until reading this week's information. According to Oravec, what makes the weblog different from an online diary is that the blog focuses more on critique, while the diary is more focused on personal reflection (2002, p. 616).

Since blogging is a resource, we as educators have to decide how we want to use them and an important starting point for deciding on that is looking at the pros and cons of the tool. Starting with the pros of the blog, a huge pro would be the social aspect of the assignment. When one does a blog, they are sharing their take or opinion on a topic and other people have the ability to post and respond. This is similar to the discussion boards used in class. In chapter six of The Professor's Guide to Taming Technology Carter shares about using blogging as a reflective practice. The Reflector-Mirror exercise she shared let students get to know each other and created a sense of community within the online classroom (King & Cox, 2011, p. 96). Another pro of using blogs in the adult education classroom is the ease of obtaining information and the lack of having to sift through information. Oravec says it this way, "rather than relying on search engines or news services for obtaining information about interesting web activity, students can access the weblogs of individuals about whom they have gained considerable background knowledge and reflective insight over time (2002, p. 617). I personally follow blogs of teachers that I frequently buy from on TeachersPayTeachers because I know they create the types of products I'm interested in. I love to see what they are creating and sharing. Following them saves me the trouble of constantly having to search for links because I know that teacher finds and creates the types of resources that I need. The final pro I will share about blogging is that students can find it to be very familiar and enjoyable. Santos (2011) shares that, using a site like Facebook, where students are conveniently already using can make learning more enjoyable (p. 18). In that respect it is a bit different from Canvas, though students can find discussion boards interesting as well.

Blogging, however, can also have its downsides.  One downside was that unless a blogging assignment is structured just right, few students will actually look at and post on classmates blogs (King & Cox, 2011, p. 96). The book shared great strategies to setup a blogging assignment to combat this issue, but it would be something to consider. Unlike a discussion board, it takes a lot of thought and effort when deciding how to implement blogging. A discussion board could be an easier tool to use as a teacher because there is much less planning. Another con is the time and effort it takes to setup the practice. According to Carter one of her students, "referred to this initial introductory period as "techno-hell" as he figured out how to customize a header, add a blog title, and establish the domain name with a catching phrase indicative of the purpose of the blog" (King & Cox, 2011, p. 95). Students don't have to do the initial setup with discussion boards, so that makes it more user friendly for them. Finally, Oravec mentions the annoyance of links having to be regularly maintained and how that can be an issue (2002, p. 618). This is an issue with any type of technology unless you're uploading the resource yourself, so it could apply to discussion boards as well.

Obviously there will be good and bad things about any type of assignment a teacher gives whether it involves technology or not. The key is deciding if the pros outweigh the cons and I believe in analyzing the reading this week that blogging is definitely worth the occasional pains associated with it if it fits the needs of your class. However, if I want an easier way with less prep to give an assignment, then a discussion board would probably be my choice.

References

King, K. & Cox, T. (2011). The professor’s guide to taming technology. Charlotte, NC: Information Age Publishing.

Oravec, J. (2002). Bookmarking the world: Weblog applications in education. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 45(7), 616-621.

Santos, A.N.E., (2011). Blogs as a learning space: Creating text of talks. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 4(6), 15-20.

Introduction

Welcome to my blog! My name is DeAnna Wise and I feel that my first post should be an "All About Me" post before my first content post.

As I already stated, my name is DeAnna. I teach fourth grade at a STEAM school in Missouri. STEAM means Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math. I love my school and the way that I get to teach curriculum there as opposed to a traditional elementary. We get to use project based learning to really dig into our content and it is so exciting.

I'm currently a student at K-State University. I'm in my final semester of my Educational Leadership degree. My hope is to one day become an administrator at the elementary level. I'm not in a hurry to get there right now because I love being in the classroom.

I am married to an awesome guy named Hunter and we have two beautiful fur babies, Jacob and Bella.

I can't wait to share this new learning experience with my class and the world wide web.

DeAnna