CSE 619: Synthesis

As I look back on this past term, I am really happy with the information that I feel like I have picked up. For me, personally, I didn’t know very much about a lot of the information that we have covered. From copyright laws, to creative commons, to media sharing, I feel that I have gotten a better understanding of the role that technology plays in today’s society. I think that not paying attention to some of these themes is actually kind of just taking advantage of the fact that the technology exists. There is so much more that we could be doing with the technology today, that I never really thought about before. From making things more affordable, to connecting students and teachers outside the classroom, and making course content more applicable and easier to find examples. I never thought about being able to use Creative Commons to supplement a teacher’s lesson plan. I didn’t know that you could go online and find entire lessons from MIT for free. To be honest, I didn’t know Creative Commons really existed in the sense that it operates. I am glad that my eyes have been opened in the way that they have, in the possibilities of uses for technology in education.

The books that we read through out the term were also very interesting. I felt that there were different, and sometimes conflicting, opinions that were brought up in each book. I think the most applicable issue that continued to arise is the copyright debate. As broad as it is, there are so many different wrinkles to both the law, and getting around the law. Again, I look at how strict and sometimes ridiculous it is, hearing some of the specific stories that are highlighted by the authors. From a mother trying to create a video of her child, to someone trying to get around the law for copying DVDs. Again, I think of my student athletes and how this may effect them quite regularly. If high school students are trying to get recruited and they put a song on their highlight film on Youtube, and it gets taken down because of copyright issues. That could have a direct effect on their ability to get recruited to play at the next level. That is a very specific and simple example, but one I feel applies to student athletes nonetheless.

Stepping back a little more again, this is my first term in the Info Tech program and it has been a good decision for me. This class, specifically, has helped me realize a number of the concerns and issues that are very apparent in the world of technology and education. I am excited to continue to learn how to apply this technology for good use. Education is obviously extremely important and it seems that it is heading for a collision course with technology. I think there is so much potential to make things easier and much more efficient, and the future of education may lie in technology.

 

“Governments of the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, I come from Cyberspace, the new home of the Mind” (Levine, pg 25).

 

 

 

Works Cited:

Levine, Robert. Free Ride: How the Internet Is Destroying the Culture Business and How           the Culture Business Can Fight Back. London: Bodley Head, 2011

CSE 624: Futures of Education

The Open Source Thin Client seems to be a great product. It eliminates the need for many different individual computers and only requires one server. The Thin Clients then all pull off of that one server and act as a portal for each user. Much like logging on to a network computer on a University campus, the thin clients save each user’s desktop and program settings for each time they log on. This is great for making technology use in the classroom easier and much more affordable. If one of the Thin Clients break, or need to be replaced, it is an easy switch and it does not effect any of the other users. The only thing that the teacher or administrator would need to worry about is the server, that is where all of the different programs would be loaded to use. These seem like a great way to optimize technology and make it easy for teachers to use as well. I think that this type of technology could fit the NETS-S standard of technology operations and concepts. With this technology being in classrooms, the students would become quite proficient in using them on a daily basis.

 

Virtualization: operating multiple OS on one physical machine. Each OS exists as a file on the one computer. This is potentially a good idea because it actually ends up saving quite a bit of money and resources. Instead of having multiple machines each running one operating system, you can have all of those different systems loaded onto one machine. This, then obviously saves you from having to buy more than one physical computer. If you have different programs that you want to use in your classroom, but they are not compatible with the same operating system, virtualization could be a way to get around that. It is also a smart way to protect your important files and information, if you do a lot of downloading of files. You can split those up, keeping your important information on one OS and having your downloaded files on the other. Then only drawback could be the potential confusion that may come in a learning/teaching environment. You would just have to make sure everyone is logging on to the correct OS.

 

The popular Xbox Kinect software that uses gestures to interact with the game, is now coming to PCs. This gesture-based software is available and there is a push to get it into classrooms as well, for educational use. This software could put a very interesting spin on the “traditional” classroom. It could help facilitate and drive teachers and educators to potentially come up with some new ideas and new curriculum. This type of technology could help meet the NETS-T standard of facilitate and inspire student learning, as well as facilitating teacher creativity, by having such a different style of learning and engaging the students in a different way.

 

I personally found the last video to be the most interesting. The “Learning Analytics” brings up some incredibly interesting and somewhat scary points. The fact that it takes the government at least 2 years to gather data about learning is pretty ridiculous. I also love the fact that he brought up the standardized testing, and how flawed/incomplete that can be. Finding a way to measure the whole learner, instead of just the standardized test-taking learner is a very interesting concept. Focusing on the most important factor in student achievement, feedback, can be a great way to run a classroom and to actually see results in student learning and true development. With the increased use of technology in the classroom, it is actually becoming more and more possible to track the student’s learning. I think that this is a great idea and a terrific concept. Steve Schoettler gives the example of being able to recommend friends you may know on a social network. Using this technology and thought process and turning it toward education could be a great way to track student learning and provide consistent and helpful feedback.

 

With the amount of new technology that is available, there should be no reason why we can’t make learning and teaching more effective, efficient and easier to accomplish. It seems to take some educators to think outside the box a little bit, and embrace the new generation and all of the technology that is coming along with it, to truly create something that students will gain quite a benefit from. 

CSE 619: Benkler: The Wealth of Networks

In this book, Benkler gives us a bit of a more technical look at information. In the very beginning of the book, the term “information economy” gets brought up. I think the examples that are used when talking about how information has been turned into a business for a very long time, are quite interesting. The fact that the commercialization of the production of information has been around for many years kind of made me think. I mean it makes sense, from the telegraph, to the local newspapers, to national newspapers, radio, television, cable and satellite; there is money in the exchange of information. Before the technology boom, this information exchange could actually be quite controlled and companies could charge for these exchanges. “The mass-media model of information and cultural production and transmission became the dominant form of public communication in the twentieth century” (Benkler, pg. 30). Especially when the main source of media and information was the newspaper, companies could really control the market and indirectly influence what people were reading and spreading as news. (Control of the media and public influence is a bit of a different subject I know but it was still very possible.)

The difference now is, of course, the Internet. Benkler uses many different technical economic terms in the book, but basically, it is my understanding that the Internet came along and changed the model of information. This makes sense because with the Internet, you are able to gain access to exponentially more information than if you were to read a newspaper or even watch TV alone. Sure you can charge for access to the Internet, but there is no true way to limit the amount of information one person can gain from it. Even if you don’t subscribe to online news sources, there are so many ways to gain information on current and past events, that you really don’t need to. Social networks alone will pretty much inform you of anything current, depending on an individual’s digital circle. This new age is considered the “networked information economy” According to Benkler, “we can harness many more of the diverse paths and mechanisms for cultural transmission that were muted by the economics of scale that led to the rise of the concentrated, controlled form of mass media, whether commercial or state-run” (Benkler, pg. 32). Basically, in this new age of information, it has become nearly impossible to regulate and control. This also means that the information itself is becoming harder turn a profit from.

This brought me back to an interesting quote earlier in the term about if information is inherently expensive, or if it wants to be free. I feel like we are in an age now that the technology we have allows information to be less and less expensive. We live in a world that allows us to access anything we could want to know (minus government sensitive material) at the click of a button. That button click does not cost very much to make either. I think that with this in mind, information wants to be free, because it has found a way to reach so many different people. Again, the author brings up some very valid points, but I find it a bit hard to follow at times. I do like how it has make me step away and think so far, so I look forward to continuing it!

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Benkler, Yochai. The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms    

       Markets and Freedom. New Haven [Conn.: Yale UP, 2006. Print.

CSE Resource Collection Topic C

With my theme of this week being video learning, I was able to find a few websites that are great resources. These can be used as tools for taking the actual video content a step further and creating student interaction based on that video.

 

Untamed Science

http://www.untamedscience.com/

 

This website actually adds in a social networking aspect to learning. Since there are so many different types of social networks out there, why not create one that is tailored to learning? Untamed Science allows that to happen. It provides students with a medium for students to share their work and ideas. This site has resources from videos to study guides and is mainly focused on science. Untamed Science is a great resource for teachers to use in addition to a topic they are teaching. It provides different videos/media and has some good content. This site could meet the NETS-T standard of modeling digital age work and learning, by having the students learn and interact with the site’s many different resources. With the social network aspect, this resource could also meet the NETS-S standard of communication and collaboration. Students can work together and share ideas, using the social network to collaborate on different topics.

 

Reading Rockets

http://www.readingrockets.org/

 

Reading Rockets is a website that is based on reading and provides many different resources for students, teachers, parents, even librarians. The most beneficial content on this site comes in the form of the author videos. If a teacher or parent wants to take reading out loud to a whole new level, they can use the videos of over 100 different famous children’s book authors. The site offers videos of interviews with the authors talking about their books in quite a bit of detail. This tool really takes the next step in student interaction, from reading to investigating and finding additional information about the authors and their stories. There is also an author study toolkit on the website that gives great ideas for designing lesson plans and assignments around the stories and author interviews. This section is basically a how-to in creating an effective book report assignment. I think this is a great resource for teachers who want to incorporate some video learning into a reading-based assignment. This website can also meet the NETS-T standard of developing and designing digital age learning experiences and assignments. Again, it could help take a traditional reading assignment and add a slight spin on it, using modern technology and video learning.

 

C-SPAN Video Library

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/browse?browse=format

 

Are you looking to teach a current events lesson? Or a section on politics? If so, the C-Span Video Library is a great resource to find videos on anything politics. It has hundreds of videos that you can browse and search to meet different criteria. You can browse by different program types, topics that are covered, even political parties. The results will bring up whatever possible political videos covering those topics. An example of a fun video-based assignment could be assigning a topic or political party and have the students research and find a video that shows a specific point of view. They can then create a poll of their own to use with the class, and see how many of their classmates agree on the point of view. This site could meet the NETS-S standard of research and information fluency. The students would be asked to gather and evaluate information that is coming primarily from a video-based medium. The assignment is using technology even more because it is being gathered from a collection on a public website, not just by sitting and watching a video in class.

 

Arts Edge

http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators.aspx

 

The ArtsEdge website is a great video resource for different cultures, exploring them through music, art, dance and other art forms. It is the cultural and media extension of the Kennedy Center. Their focus is on “ways to support innovative teaching with the arts, and meet changing trends in education and to accommodate the ever-evolving impact of technology in our lives” (artsedge.kennedy-center.org). Their free collections of digital resources include lesson plans, audio stories, video clips and interactive online modules. They have all been streamlined for easier browsing and are considered to be an excellent source for educational media instruction. This site is a great media site for teachers ranging from music and dance instructors, to social studies teachers that are looking for a way to incorporate culture into their lesson plans. The videos are a great tool and could be used to meet the NETS-T standard of designing and developing digital age learning and experiences by using the online videos, in addition to help create a more cultural learning experience.

 

Watch Know Learn

http://www.watchknowlearn.org/

 

This website is a huge database full of educational videos. These videos are gathered from all over the Internet and organized into different categories. The categories range from language arts, to mathematics, to science, to philosophy and ethics. Their mission statement is “To provide a world-class, online domain on which educators can store, categorize, and rate the best, K – 12 educational videos on the Internet today. And to make this service FREE so teachers, parents and students everywhere may have access to those videos” (watchknowlearn.org). With that mission statement in mind, this website is a great resource specifically for teachers. They have over 50,000 videos that are characterized into even more specific categories than just the general ones (upwards of 5,000 categories). This means that they have pretty much any type of video you would need to show in an educational setting. They even have an age-level category, so you can find videos and information that is applicable for the age group that you are teaching. However, this site does not host the videos directly, they merely serve as a giant online library that provides the links to videos that have been selected specifically by educators. This website could meet the NETS-T standard of modeling digital age work and learning by emphasizing the use of online videos as a primary resource for learning about a specific topic. 

CSE 624 Article Review #2 Topic C

Staying with my topic of video learning, I came across an article that talks about old educational videos from the 1950’s. These videos star Disney’s Jiminy Cricket and were designed to show how videos can help children learn. The article is called Jiminy Cricket Revisited: A Dozen Ways Video Can Activate Learning. It was written by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson in the Teacher Librarian Journal, and published in October 2012. 

 

The authors introduce these classic videos as examples of how video can be beneficial in the classroom and how it started decades ago. But with the technology that we have at our disposal, students are getting more and more used to watching videos for educational purposes. The main idea in the article is that although video is beneficial, in today’s society it is probably not enough on its own. The visualization needs to be combined with active-learning experience in order for the students to stay mentally and physically active in today’s society (Lamb, 55). Although Jiminy Cricket is in the title, the main theme of the article is how to extend video-based learning experiences beyond the video screen.

 

The first suggestion is to have resources in which the authors are actually visible and involved with their work. There are many different resources online that have recorded video of the authors reading their books out loud. In addition to the readings, most of them have interviews with the authors as well. These could be great resources that could create a little more depth than just reading a story out loud to students.

 

Next, the authors suggest doing interview work about the videos they have seen. They can research how to find accurate and relevant interviews and even practice by interviewing one another with questions about the film. “Teaching students to become digital citizens is an important 21st century skill. It’s essential that students have the knowledge and skills to make responsible decisions about the use of technology” (Lamb, 55). This suggestion is a great one and it speaks right along with the NETS-T standard of promoting and modeling digital citizenship and responsibility.

 

The authors go on to suggest many other different types of ways to incorporate interaction with the students from the video they have seen. From acting out emotions and responses to the videos, to producing and creating their own video on a certain topic, to creating role-play ideas based of the videos. This article is full of information and creative ways to help teachers create scenarios where the students are doing more than just watching videos during class. I think the whole idea follows the NETS-T standard of facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity. Having students interact and do more than just watch a video in class is a great way to facilitate creativity.

 

This article is a great resource and it shows that video in the classroom is being used more and more, and it isn’t necessarily a negative thing, as long as it is done correctly. In this case, with the addition of student interaction.  

 

 

Works Cited

Lamb, A., & Johnson, L. (2012). Jiminy Cricket Revisited: A Dozen Ways Video Can Activate Learning. Teacher Librarian, 39(6), 55-59.

CSE 624 Article Review #1 Topic C

With all of the online-based work and out of classroom learning capabilities available, I decided to focus on video-based learning for my third topic. I found an article in the Journal of Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice. The article is titled The Impact of a Question-Embedded Video-based Learning Tool on E-learning, it was written by Omer FarukVural and published May 1, 2013.

 

Video is a teaching tool that has been used ever since it has been available for the public. Since the 1950’s, video has been used as a medium to introduce, explain and teach concepts to people by stimulating multiple senses (Vural, 1315). While video has been around for decades, this article focuses on a specific technique of video learning called question-embedded interactive video environment, or QVE. QVE consisted of instructional clips, followed by multiple-choice questions. This tool required the students to focus more carefully on the information, as they had to pass the questions to move on to the next section.  It compared that style of learning with a similar one that did not have the question component with it called interactive video environment, or IVE.

 

Two different courses were developed using the two different styles of learning. They were set up to teach the same content to a group of 318 students enrolled in an introductory level computer literacy class (Vural, 1315). Quantitative results were gathered by the students taking two quizzes and two surveys based on the information that was being presented to them. The research results showed that the QVE tool better promoted student learning, improving the amount of interaction of the students, as well as the time spent learning the materials (Vural 1315). This tool basically forced the students to interact with the information more and did not allow them to just watch the content and forget about it. The fact that this type of curriculum was more successful does not come as a shock, but why did it work more effectively?

 

The first reason is based on the theory of Constructivism. Constructivism refers to the theory that the learners actually construct knowledge for themselves. Constructivists “assume that learners do not just comprehend information as they encounter but also they do a great deal with the information they get, trying to organize and make sense them in light of prior knowledge, experience, mental structures, and beliefs” (Vural 1316). The learners are putting the new information together in a way that makes sense to them.

 

In addition to constructivism, the cognitive information processing theory was used to design this program. This theory suggests “individuals receive information, then organize group of information, then connect it with previous knowledge, then transfer and encode it in memory to store, and then recall from memory to apply knowledge across learning environment” (Vural 1317). The learners try and make personal connections with the information by drawing from past experiences. This is what causes them to truly learn the content, the relating to personal experiences. 

 

With both of these theories in mind, the QVE proved to be a more effective learning tool. The article suggests that this technique caused the students to know the information better due to the quizzes and interactions with the information. It also required them to spend more time with the information, to make sure they knew it before they were quizzed. I think that the use of the QVE is a great way to go with video learning. In an age where it is becoming more and more popular to use video as a media for teaching, it is a good idea to have some type of question segment or something to create an interaction with the information that has been given. I think that this technique can be used in almost any type of learning, even for college athletes in their sport settings. I could show a series of plays and quiz the players on their specific responsibilities or techniques for those plays. This could also meet the NETS-T standard of facilitating and inspiring student learning and creativity. It would certainly be a situation where the teacher/coach is setting the students up to truly learn and advance their knowledge of the topic through interaction with the information. I think this technique would be much more effective than just showing videos and hoping the information sinks in for a test later on.

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Vural, O. (2013). The Impact of a Question-Embedded Video-based Learning Tool on E-Learning. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 13 (2) 1315-1323

CSE 624 Resource Collection Topic B

I chose my second topic to be the flipped classroom. I really like the theory behind this style of teaching and I found some resources to help someone who is trying to execute it. One of the keys to a successful flipped classroom is the organization of the content. No one likes a class site that is confusing and the information is hard to find. A number of these resources are Learning Management Systems (LMS) that could be very beneficial for a teacher who wants to run a smooth, successful online component to their classroom.

 

 

Khan Academy

http://www.khanacademy.org/

 

The Khan Academy is a non-profit organization that has the goal of “changing education for the better by providing a free world-class education for anyone anywhere.” This organization is the leader in providing assistance for the flipped classroom model. No matter if you’re a student, teacher, principal, or adult returning to education. These materials are available to anyone completely free of charge. This site not only has their own lesson plans you could follow, but they also have resources you could use in addition to your own lesson. With videos covering topics from K-12 math, biology, chemistry, physics, humanities, finance and history, these could be great resources to use when assigning out of class work for your flipped lesson plan. This would be quite simple to set up for your students, all you would have to do is provide them with the link you wanted them to watch. If you wanted to use more of the site’s tools, they have all kinds of additional resources, such as tracking data, class performance summaries, statistics about what you’ve been teaching, individual knowledge maps (learning plans) etc. This site is a great tool for teachers and it definitely helps follow the standard of designing and developing digital age learning experiences and assessments by having the students actually using this technology on a daily basis. Not only are you exposing them to the information, but you hare having them learn by using the technology that is at their disposal.

 

Edmodo

http://www.edmodo.com/

 

Edmodo is another great tool for the flipped classroom. It is a Learning Management System, (similar to moodle) It doesn’t have specific lesson plans and videos like the Khan Academy, but it is an amazing tool for teachers to help organize and set up their class. You can add one lesson at a time in your class, and for each lesson or topic, you can upload your specific content and have it available for your students. As a teacher, you can upload quizzes, polls, and other online assignments that you can monitor your students’ progress, and see when they finish. Again, the biggest benefit of this tool is the organization factor. There is a calendar for upcoming events, and reminders of when things are due. There is also a section for organizing applications and having them available for your students. Parents can also have access to updates, grade checks and progress of their children. Since this site is geared mainly toward the teachers, helping them organize and run the online components of their flipped classroom, I think it would meet the NETS-T standard of designing and developing digital age learning experiences and assessments. Specifically, it would engage the students in online work and involvement on a potentially daily basis. They would be able to see things clearly organized and laid out for the course and they would be able to access the information and content uploaded by the teacher. I think this would be a great tool for teachers to use to stay organized, because everything is very simple to use and it is all there in front of you once you upload it to the site.

 

Schoology

https://www.schoology.com/home.php

 

Schoology is another LMS that is easy to use and creates a collaborative interface that enhances the experience of everyone involved (teachers, students, parents etc.) Schoology hosts its own website, so you as a teacher don’t have to worry about creating or running a new site, and it is all saved on a cloud so you can access your information anywhere. This site makes it even easier to create and organize your webpages, there are many different tools to use to create and individualize your own page for your class. The calendars they offer are color-coded and actually provide automatic updating and can by synced with other web-based calendars (such as Google calendar). When it comes to writing and content, this site allows you to create your own content, without having to know html or any other programming code. It provides a rich text editor for easy content customization. You can also add different applications and other programs to be available to your class’ page. Along with different content managers, this site provides organization and access for both students and teachers. It also meets the NETS-T standard of designing and developing digital age learning experiences and assessments. The students would be able to access content that the teacher could assign for outside of class work and it would be done online. Basically the course structure would be all online and available 24/7.

 

Educreations

http://www.educreations.com/

 

Educreations is different than a LMS. It is actually a specific application and not a website. It is a recording tool that allows the teacher to draw, upload images, and record their voice. It is essentially a digital whiteboard. This app would be very handy if the teacher had an iPad or tablet, they could just use their fingers to draw/write whatever they would need. After they record the lesson, they can upload it for the class online. It has limitless applications for different lessons and topics because it really lets you teach on a blank surface (or of a custom surface if you like). The best part about the app is that it doesn’t require anyone else to actually have it to view your lesson. Students don’t need an iPad, just an Internet connection of some type so they can view the lesson. The lessons can be viewed on either a PC or a Mac, so it is a pretty universal application. By using this app, teachers are definitely meeting the NETS-T standard of model digital age work and learning. By using this application, the teachers would need to have the knowledge and skill that is required in a digital setting. This is a great tool to use as a platform for a lesson that the teacher would want to share with their students online.

 

Skype

https://education.skype.com/

 

As most people are familiar with Skype, it is an online video connection application. It allows two parties with an Internet connection to video chat. This could be a great application for teachers in the classroom if they had the creativity to use it in the best ways. You could upload your recorded video lessons, feedback and thoughts to your class. Teachers could also schedule a time to have a video chat with a student for help/tutoring outside the classroom. These things would help quite a bit with the out-of-class portion of the flipped classroom. I also think that it could help with the in-class portion as well. You could organize the activities and class work to be done around a video chat with someone in the field that you are studying. You could also set it up with another class and have the students work together on their assignments through the video. There are almost limitless applications for this program that, like I said, the teacher could use if they had the creativity to do it! I think that having students actually see a live example of their subject is a great concept. It has been around for many years in the form of a field trip. Now you don’t have to leave the classroom to have the field trip experience. This could save on time and cost and still be quite effective. This concept would help facilitate and inspire student learning and creativity and you wouldn’t have to leave the classroom. 

CSE 624 Article Review #2 Topic B

 

Staying with my theme of the flipped classroom, I found an article in the College and Resource Libraries journal Called Four Quick Flips. It was written by Ilka Datig and Claire Ruswick and published in May 2013.

At the beginning of the article, the author describes the flipped classroom and how it has actually been around for quite some time. The only difference now, is the availability of technology to make this type of teaching much easier and more efficient. Having students go home and read chapters in their textbook and then come to class the next day to do activities, is quite a normal concept. Having students go home and watch lessons on their computer, or listen to a pod cast on their way home from school is something that is starting to gain traction. The authors give partial credit to the Khan Academy in their article. “What has sparked the current buzz is the adoption of the method by STEM classes, the rise of on- line teaching tools, and the popularity of the Khan Academy” (Datig, pg. 249). The Khan Academy is a nonprofit organization that provides online video lectures in a variety of different subjects. The lectures are available at different learning levels and actually allow the students to learn at home at their own pace. Thus providing the teachers the ability to remotely monitor the students’ progress outside of the classroom. Again, this concept then allows the teachers to run activities in the classroom and provide more one on one help when the students have specific questions.

            The authors of the article are actually teachers and they teach an information literacy course. They have implemented this type of lesson plan time and time again. According to them, each time the students provide very positive feedback about the lessons. “These activities are consistently a great success with students. Based on assessments given at the end of course-integrated instruction sessions, one of the aspects students most appreciate about the flipped classroom is the interactive, hands-on quality” (Datig, pg. 251). They also received positive feedback from other faculty about the lessons. “Feedback was also very positive among faculty who brought their students for library instruction sessions. They enjoyed seeing their students engaged in class while also learning the material” (Datig, pg. 251).

            I can’t help but put myself in the place of the students at the high-school and middle-school levels and think about how much more enjoyable/beneficial these lesson plans would be. It would be great to learn, but also use the technology part of the lessons. Having to watch a video on my computer for “homework” would be really cool. I think that is a main reason why this type of lesson works, because it actually creates buy-in from students. It is still teaching the same material, but presenting it in such a way that today’s generation can relate and respond to it. If I were ever in a true teaching setting, I would try and use this lesson plan as much as possible. It very easily follows NETS-T standards of Facilitating and Inspiring Student Learning and Creativity, by using both face-to-face and digital learning experiences. It also Models Digital Age Work and Learning by using the technology to stay relevant in the professional digital society. I think that even with coaching, it can work. Having my players watch specific plays or film outside of meetings, then bring them in and apply those concepts in meetings and practice. I’m sure there are more negatives than just the teacher preparation time it takes, but I just see more positives than negatives with this type of teaching.

Works Cited

Datig, I., & Ruswick, C. (2013). Four quick flips. College & Research Libraries, 74(5), 249-257

CSE 624 Article Review #1 Topic B (2)

Flipped Classroom

 

I found an article in the Journal of College Science Teaching, published in May 2013.

This article focuses on the flipped classroom and how case studies can be used in addition to the teaching style, to give students a better classroom experience. The author defines a flipped classroom as “what is normally done in class and what is normally done as homework is switched or flipped. Instead of students listening to a lecture…and then going home to work on a set of assignment problems, the read material and view videos before coming to class and then engage in class in active learning” (Herreid, pg. 62). I imagined, and actually remembered doing a bit of this type of school work, and compared it to the “traditional” style of lecturing. I couldn’t help but picture the scene from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off when the professor is just standing and talking in the most boring tone of voice asking the class questions. “Anyone, Anyone?” That is obviously an extreme exaggeration, but it popped in my head nonetheless.

 

Right off the bat, I was interested when I read the list of potential benefits of a flipped classroom: “students move at their own pace, doing homework in class gives teachers better insight into student difficulties and learning styles, teachers can more easily customize and update the curriculum and provide it to students 24/7, classroom time can be used more effectively and creatively” The list goes on and on. I thought wow, what an interesting concept. Not only is it something non-traditional, but it also sounds like there are so many benefits that the students could gain from this type of learning.

 

When you combine this style of teaching, with the technology that we have at our disposal, you can engage the students even more effectively. By that I mean not just assigning them reading to do at home form a textbook or a hand out, but maybe watch a video you’ve created, or listening to a pod cast about the material for the next day. I know as a student, I would have been much more receptive of something like that, versus just reading a section out of a book (boring!).

 

The negatives that are brought up in the article, seem somewhat trivial to me and I don’t think they hold up against all of the positives. The author suggests that “Students new to the method may be initially resistant because it requires that they do work at home rather than be first exposed to the subject matter in school” (Herreid, pg. 63). I think that students would rather do this type of work at home, watching a video and answering a few introductory questions, as opposed to doing 30 homework questions away from the teacher so they can’t ask them questions when they get confused. The other negative that is discussed is “the homework must be carefully tailored for the students in order to prepare them for the in-class activities” (Herreid, pg. 63). Now I have never formally taught in a classroom setting, but I feel like that would require just about the same amount of preparation as making an in-class lecture. The only difference being you can edit and change things that you didn’t like the first time you record it!

 

I think that this type of teaching definitely follows the NETS-T standards of Modeling Digital Age Work and Learning, as well as Designing and Developing Digital Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. As a teacher, you are constantly using technology in a learning setting to deliver important information to the students. I think this style of teaching is a great example of how to use technology in (or outside of) the classroom and using it for the benefit of the students.

 

Works Cited

 

Herreid, Clyde, and Nancy Schiller. “Case Studies and the Flipped Classroom.” Journal of College Science Teaching 42.5 (2013): 62-66.

CSE 619, Aufderheide, Reclaiming Fair Use:

In the first chapter of this book, the authors not only explain (again) the copyright laws and how ridiculous they are. What I really like is how they go on to explain not just ridiculous examples, but how the law applies to “regular people” and why this is important. I feel like they are setting the stage to inform the reader and give them the knowledge to fight back and not just be confused and accept the situation regarding copyright. I also like the practical-sounding attitude that they are taking to the subject, not just drilling us with information, but making it relevant. “Do I really have to know that much about copyright law, especially if I’m someone who just wants to write a blog, make a video, put together a slide show…Not really. You just need to know the right stuff-most importantly, that you have rights” (Aufderheide, pg. 5).

The “Fair Use” theory is interesting, but seems to be quite limited in its capabilities. There are two kinds of fair use, one is “your right to do with copyrighted material what you will for personal purposes” (Aufderheide, pg. 18). Seriously? You are going to “allow” me to use the material I purchased, or I have in my possession however I want to by myself? Even if I want to watch a movie at the same time as listening to an album at full volume? YES! Being able to record a TV show or make photocopies of book excerpts is a “right” that I feel like is pretty much a given. It would be absolutely ridiculous, not to mention a waste of time, to try and monitor/limit these types of actions. Also, companies like TiVo and cable/satellite providers with DVR boxes would take a tremendous hit or go out of business!

The other type of fair use comes in to play when you are taking material and using it to create something new. This is where I get slightly confused. In theory, someone could take part of a song and use it to create a completely new song (remix). Or use a song to create a different/original music video for it. You hear these on the radio all the time, but I assumed that the artists got the license/permission from the record company or the original artist. I didn’t know that it is actually a right that we have to use copyrighted material, without permission, as long as we are creating something new and original. This type of fair use is considered “transformative” and is actually protected. “Fair use is in play whenever you have the right to take copyrighted material without getting permission from copyright holders or their agents…There is no fair-use approval board, and no one needs to authorize your decision. You simply take material and reuse it” (Aufderheide, pg. 20).

So again, I like how this book seems to be not only informing us of the copyright laws and practices, but also giving us examples of how we still have some freedoms to use material. Obviously this is very important in a teaching setting, as using media becomes more and more popular in the classroom. Teachers actually have the right to use copyrighted material in their classroom without any complications, but what about an online class or a published lesson plan? Those don’t fall within the four walls of a classroom, so it is very important to know our rights as educators so we can continue to meet the NETS-T standards (mainly inspiring creativity and developing digital age learning experiences) and to be able to do that legally.

 

 

 

Works Cited

 

Aufderheide, Patricia, and Peter Jaszi. Reclaiming Fair Use: How to Put Balance Back in Copyright. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2011.