Blog Post #5

The iSchool Initiative

   Travis Allen was obviously a motivated and innovative high school senior. As a senior in high school, I was more interested in what girls were in my class and whether my grades were high enough to keep me clear from parental enforced probationary periods. I was far from forming international initiatives like The iSchool Initiative.
   The idea of incorporating iTouches into classrooms to supplement learning is not necessarily a revolutionary idea I'm sure. I am sure there are teachers out there that incorporated the device into their classroom when they first came out. However, to suggest that we replace traditional classroom tools with the iTouches is brilliant. The iSchool apps discussed in the iSchool Initiative would make for great learning devices to replace books, calculators, maps, globes, and paper products.
   In Zeitgeist's Young Mind's entry, it was plain to see that Travis Allen's efforts over the past three years have payed off. He looks to have created quite a program that is making a big impact on our education system.
   I think that the idea is brilliant. The apps used for examples in the video all seem as though they would work perfectly to not only replace school supplies, but to help students with organization, as well as establish better communication between students, teachers, and parents. Personally, I feel as though a pro verse con list for applying the use of iTouches into our school systems would result in a long list of reasons to utilize this initiative. I may be forced to admit that I play devil's advocate more times than not and instinctively look for reasons not to enforce a new idea. I was at lost for such practices with Allen's idea. In fact, it's surprising that his movement is not bigger than it is.
 
Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir

   This video was amazing. As an advocate for music of all kinds, I appreciated the musical aspect of the video. Even more impressive, the amount of coordination that must have been involved is impressive not only on a technological platform, but a musical one as well. To line up each participant's contribution to such perfect alignment must have been pain staking. I love the idea of incorporating this kind of use of technology into music. I noticed in the credits that Virtual Choir featured singers from all over the world. It is amazing to think that this composer could use singers from so many different places and still collaborate with all of them and put together such a beautiful piece of music.

Teaching in the 21st Century

   According to Kevin Roberts, to teach in the 21st century is a shift in the traditional form of instruction including the presentation of facts and content to the now of helping to filter information students have access to. I am inclined to agree with most of Roberts' assertions. While I do agree that educators should adapt to more of a facilitator of building skills, there will always be a place for formal instruction. Mathematics still have formulas and our histories will not change. While students now have different outlets to access this information, there is still and forever will be the need for an educator to present these to students. There are certain disciplines that social medias and technologies should supplement rather than replace.
    Students do have the ability now days to access a plethora of information from countless sources due to technology. It is very important for educators to arm students with the abilities to not only access and process this information, but to also teach them how to assimilate new information with old as well as filter fact from fiction.
    In Teaching in the 21st Century, I loved the emphasis that Roberts placed on the difference between entertainment and engagement. In a world of decreasing attention spans, teachers aim to entertain students while spoon feeding curriculum. It is imperative that we as educators of tomorrow make sure to instead engage our students, igniting creativity and originality within.

Flipping the Classroom

   I love the idea of this approach of instruction. As a student, I often times found myself in the groupings of students outside of the norm described by Katie Gimbar's Flipping the Classroom. In some disciplines, I grasped the information quickly and became bored with the slow pace of instruction leading to a lack of concentration. In other subjects, I found myself slow to understand leading to discouragement and frustration. In both circumstances, the lesson outside of the first couple of minutes was rendered useless. I was a goner. As mentioned in Dr. Lodge McCammon's Fizz-Flipping the Classroom, lecture was ineffective and a waste of time for me and students like me.
   To use videos for instruction for use by students before class is brilliant. This puts the pace at which they learn in their own hands with the option of pausing and rewinding. It is much more interactive than traditional homework that I was inclined to and would have supplemented my homework experiences dramatically.
    While this is a great idea, I feel as though it could be used more in some disciplines than others. For example, I aim to teach history/social studies in the future. I can definitely see where a tactic like this would be awesome for a history teacher. But in the same respect, our history is a story that needs to be told. The application process of history is different than say the application of mathematics. There is an inherit need for history to be told, and many times an application exercise of curriculum in a history course involves direct instruction.