R/T#3 ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Informational Technologies

Shannon D. Smith and Judith Borreson Caruso, with an introduction by Joshua Kim. The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2010 (Research Study, Vol. 6). Boulder, CO: EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research, 2010, available from http://www.educause.edu/ecar.

Educause Center for Applied Research (ECAR) released the results of their 7th study of undergraduate information technology (IT) uses on campus for personal and academic purposes. These studies are usually conducted at 4 year doctoral public institutions and draws their conclusions from the results of several surveys. The study concluded that mobile computing and cloud basic applications are on the rise. 

The various diagrams really helped me stay engaged. There was a wealth of data present, and had there been no visual representation many of the comparison would have been lost.I thought it was amazing how low the numbers were for use of netbooks at 13% and ebooks at 3.1. I guess this was just an urgency for these products created by corporate. I was also amazed to see desk tops are still popular despite the fact that laptops are so affordable. I also thought the reliance on handheld internet devices as an acceptable means of informational technology interesting. These “handheld devices” are smart phones inevitably. I cannot get any academic work done on my phone. I can check emails, but it would be tragic read a peer-reviewed article from my phone, or even try to edit a paper. 

I wish more information had been present about the demographic and geographical location of participants. I thought it was insightful to provide ages, but we have talked about access before, and it makes me question how accurate of a representation is the article. It also may be nice to see the study conducted at a community college. 

After reading this article as an instructor I really need to step it up. These students are going to continue to demand us to adapt our lessons to their daily experiences. It is one thing to use the same technologies socially or personally, but to create meaningful lessons with these technologies is challenging and exhausting. 

This is a business opportunity for curriculum writers and software developers everywhere. Teachers need pre-packaged ideas to utilize these technologies in pedagogical strategy...SOS!!!

Brain Rules #4 ATTENTION Mindomo

I have two words to describe my experience with Mindomo -- EPIC FAIL!!

This was my first time using this tool and I generally disliked it. It was confusing to use and my cursor kept disappearing and these shaded gray boxes for formatting kept getting in the way of my subtopic bubbles. Another annoying aspect was the tendency for the zoom controls to have a mind of their own. I would be in the middle of passionately typing some information and all of a sudden my diagram would disappear.

I even did my research prior to selecting this tool. I was torn between Mindomo or Mindmeister. The blogs said Mindomo was more user friendly and very similar to Office 2007. If that was my experience with Mindomo I am very relieved I did not try Mindmeister. That experience really left me frustrated this evening and it got in the way of my note taking.

On a positive note I can pull some relevance out of this tool for my students. This tool like many digital technologies can be beneficial to the tactile and visual learning. You are probably wondering how can the tactile learner benefit from this tool. When I was engaging the tool I felt like I was building this concepts and strategically placing topics and subtopics to make relationships. This is visually appealing because the information can be categorized and those Office 2007 formatting tools are available.

I would never use this for personal reasons. I'm not a visual learner anyhow and charts and diagrams or annoying and useless to me. If I ever need to be frustrated I will turn to Mindomo.



<iframe width="600" height="540" src="http://www.mindomo.com/view.htm?m=31cd2b70435b422d8c55c8f39b022ee7" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

http://www.mindomo.com/view.htm?m=31cd2b70435b422d8c55c8f39b022ee7

Perils of Not Paying Attention R&T #2

Selfe does an amazing job in Chapter 6 addressing the elephant in the room -- teaching technological literacies. 

Literacy is a concept that is commonly left to the responsibility of the English instructor to implement. Selfe demonstrates that 21st century literacy requires people to read, write and communicate in an electronic environment. The problem is many English teachers have poor attitudes about actually acknowledging a need to effectively read and write in electronic environments. English professional educators are far too focused on a humanist belief and traditions that appear rather selfish. Some professional educators are open to necessariness of technological literacies but lack the skills and strategies to actually teach it. 

Selfe explains a preoccupation with mislead funding. A list of state school districts are provided with statistics that support irresponsible allocations. Many large districts are obsessed of having machines in the room but less interested in keeping a highly qualified staff of teachers. 

Selfe later explains the social implications of limited access to technology. These limitations apply to minority communities in the United States. Selfe suggests that unavailability of technology (computers, internet, etc.) is a political attempt to maintain a divide a keep the poor -- poor. This is reflective of the literacy struggles the United States and other countries faced in the past. Books were too expensive for the poor to buy, so access was lost and literacy became a matter of the class system and wealth. Technology is not affordable, so there is a division of class and wealth to have access to these tools to be what is not considered 21st century literate. 

Lastly, Selfe chronicles what English professionals should do to change the attitudes and improve literacy for the 21st century. Below I have listed a few:

-Taking action at local colleges and universities

-Establishing literary practices in electronic environments in curriculums, standards and assessments

-Informative research and scholarship

-Demonstration in the classroom

-Relevant teacher training 

This reading was amazing. Selfe really puts abstract topics in perspective. Since I have joined the education discipline, I have been beyond frustrated with the attention give to technology literacy. It is frustrating when English instructors assume a word processing program is technology literacy. There is so much more we can do with our kids. It also frustrates me when teachers use smartboards as projector screens. However, I cannot just blame teachers I have to gripe on the leadership, who fails to provide proper training and sample strategies. After reading this article I plan to have a conversation with the instructional coach in my school. It would be nice if she could create some lesson templates that any teacher could use to teach technological literacies are something discipline specific.

I included the following link. It is very short and sweet, but I think it does an accurate job summing up what Selfe wanted to say. 

http://youtu.be/u7q5vMgkUKI

SeSelfe, Cynthia L. Computers in the Composition Classroom. Ed. Michelle Sidler, Richard Morris, and Elizabeth Overman Smith. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Print.

Brain Rules Chapter 3 Every Brain is Wired Differently Popplet

I experimented with popplet. The technology was user-friendly and very engaging. The oversized font and graphics puts emphasis on a short specific textual notes and more emphasis on uploaded images and videos. I did become a little confused when the tutorials for the various tools were offered. I thought it was my opportunity to start exploring and I was still viewing the tutorials.  I have never used it before, but after engaging the tutorials I noticed this tool was used on the homepage of this course. This tool precludes anyone from taking detailed notes. I would use this tool for my students to develop a visual argument to support a persuasive or argumentative essay. I like this tool and I will use it in the future to accompany a written piece. 

http://popplet.com/app/#/79077

The Unthinkable About Technology in the Classroom R/T

This Reading and Thinking blog is in response to the reading in CCC from Chapters 2 and  Chapter 5. 

I liked how both chapters took the road never traveled before. They discredited all the excitement about technology as the answer to all education needs in the classroom. This was my first time where I was given both sides to technological advances in the classroom and a chance to make a truly informed decision. 

Chapter 2 really sent me into a frenzy with the monopoly capitalism comparison. My interest for studying instructional strategies with technology is because I too believe students should learn and practice using technology as active participants rather than an audience. 

I was not confused in Chapter 5, but the “maps of computer interface” was very distracting for me. I felt the language may it difficult for me to understand the literary context. This also reveals my level of comfort with “industry terms”.  

Going back to Chapter 2 I would liked to have seen more discussion about literacies, particularly about computer vs technology literacy. So much time was spent in explaining the framework yet when we finally get to  the content I feel cut short. 

I would like to end this post by agreeing with Ottmann, that literacy is a social process. It  is reassuring that simply having technology does not guarantee any additional skill or ability by the type of instruction and use of the technology. I teach in a high school where technology is limited and I feel confident if I can motivate literacy socially I can prepare them without the technology and also to be prepared to embrace these technologies in the future. 

The capitalism conversation and the history of it made me think of the Sound of Music and the beginning of consumerism. 

The disconnect “map of computer interface” created made me feel the way the below picture is depicted.

Reaction to Resolution on Media Literacy as High School English Courses

I understand this article is from 1997 but even more interesting that colleges ironic enough discounted courses that focused on visual texts...when in my opinion these texts are the most beneficial in all aspects of life whether one continues a post secondary education or not.

I appreciate NCTE resolution, however I think its unfortunate that media literacy and visual texts are not mandatory. I worry that average students will miss out on this vital exposure. 

This article inspires me even more to make technology integration mandatory in my English classroom so everyone has the opportunity. 

Introduction

Hi Class,

My name is Alicia Hunter and I am a facilitator of learning (teacher) for 10th graders in DC Public schools.  I enrolled in this course to incorporate technology integration with writing instruction. It frustrates me that most ELA teachers believe technology integration is simply using presentation software or a word processing program. There is so much technology available and many are afraid to learn. 

An interesting fact about me is I adore miniature poodles. In defense of the the breed they are nothing like their stereotypes. 

Teach2Reach