Blog Post #13

A Vision of Students Today 

 In A Vision of Students Today,
Kansas State University students convey startling statistics pertaining to today's students. The message is that we presently operate our educational system in an obsolete manner that not only restricts our students' capabilities, but also does so in an inefficient and expensive way. The statistics were written on blank pages and revealed by students in a crowded auditorium. The statistics mostly pertained to overcrowded and expensive learning conditions. Also included were statistics supporting the fact that the students multi-task and use social media and technology in a disproportionate amount of time when compared to time spent in a typical and classical learning environment, chalkboard included. 
     I found the video to be very revealing. While I could relate with most of the students' statements, I still found some of the averages to be surprising. Some of the statistics include the fact that 18% of instructors knew the names of their students, and students complete 49% of assigned readings. It is pretty obvious that today's student is not engaged. As obvious as it seems that our educational system is in need of reform, there are people that look at the cry of students and teachers alike as complaining. I discovered an example of this in the comments of the video. While there were far more comments suggesting support for these ideas, there were still rebuttals suggesting technology would be used inappropriately by students. The longer we deny technology from the classroom, the further we fall behind as a nation in terms of education and innovation. The sooner we make steps to change this is about the same moment our students will know what it is like to learn in a truly effective learning environment.

Smartboard Presentation

Little Kids... Big Potential

Little Kids... Big Potential

   In Little Kids... Big potential, Kathy Cassidy showcases the methods by which her first grade students learn through technology. They use blogs, a classroom web page, wikis, video, Skype and Nintendo DS to share, collaborate and learn in their classroom. The video features several students discussing the methods they use to learn. They practice their vocabulary and writing abilities through writing on their blog. They use the web page to collaborate with their classmates as well as organize their learning tools, of which they can access even when at home. The class created a wiki to find new information. They use Skype to collaborate with another first grade class in another town. They use their Nintendo DS to play games that helps them to work on spelling and math.
   Mrs. Cassidy is doing an amazing job of creating a great foundation for her students. She is instilling in them the skills necessary to succeed in the proverbial tomorrow. It is amazing to see students so young display such mastery of PLNs.
   As a future social studies teacher, I can see so many benefits to come out of this type instruction. By utilizing web pages and blogs, I could ask my students to write daily on their own personal blogs on topics related to the curriculum we are studying. This would give the students an opportunity to showcase the work for all to see. Not only would this give them the confidence for writing for an audience, they would have the ability to read their fellow classmates' blogs and collaborate with them accordingly. I also believe that a wiki dedicated to historically relevant information would would be a great location for students to turn to when the time comes to write a paper or report.
   The possibilities for implementing these type techniques in the classroom are endless. I could see myself using every technique featured in the video. While high school history students might not receive a lot of benefit from playing Nintendo DS games designed to improve basic vocabulary, they would most definitely benefit from organizing a personal learning network. This would enhance their education not only in relation to the class I teach, but with every class they ever take. Every student we teach, we have the opportunity to enrich our student's academic abilities that span outside of our own disciplines. By using technology in my history class, they are preparing themselves to succeed in a later class.
   The classroom featured in this video is the classroom of the future. How well we as teachers incorporate technology into our classroom directly effect what our students accomplish in the future in a technological world.

Special Assignment

A World Where Grades Are Left Behind

 

   Mary Beth Marklein spotlights in her article the online venture of Google VP and professor Sebastian Thrun. She showcases an unprecedented education system that focuses on free, or close to free education for the masses.

   Thrun established this online entity in Palo Alto, CA just down the street from where he professes at Standford University. His "classroom," if that's what you can call it is a cramped soundproof studio ladened with "twenty something" graphic designers building the courses that will appear on the site entitled Udacity. The site gives it's users the ability to learn for free as well as it's administrators the ability to convey information to large numbers of people. The system offers those yearning to learn the opportunity to learn from top experts of specific fields with no or relatively small costs. Where the instruction is designed to be free, there will no doubt be costs associated with examinations and certifications. But for the most part, tests and grades are held separate from the education.

   Thrun says that his type system will "involve a sequence of increasingly more challenging exercises and quizzes aimed at helping students master a particular concept or skill." It will not replace the traditional classroom just as movies did not replace live theater. It is just another way to supplement learning in an "industry that is long over due for an overhaul."

    As a future educator, I find this type education to be a great opportunity for people seeking to expand on a particular skill or concept. As far as an overall education, direct instruction is required. I do not perceive the arguments discussed in this article to threaten the jobs of educators, but to suggest that a well balanced, thorough education can be obtained strictly online is unrealistic. Whereas education is overdue for overhaul, the concept of brick and mortar schoolhouses is not. In order for students to achieve a well rounded and thorough education, they must leave their residences and interact with people. There is alot more to learn about life than the curriculum relayed over the internet. As far as people seeking supplemental education, Thrun's classes and classes like it seem to be perfect. I read somewhere that more people learn to play an instrument than before because of the rampant (and free) instruction that can be found online. Where people used to have to seek someone to instruct them directly, usually for a price, they now can learn as much as they want to without a cost. Furthermore, they can do so at their own terms on their own schedule. This is no different than Thrun's class.

   As far as the fore mentioned "industry overhaul" is concerned, our education system does in fact need to incorporate technology at a rate that not only meets that of other industries, but probably should exceed other industries with a priority that is appropriate for an industry (education) that is our future. With that said, a "flipped classroom" and classrooms equipped with the latest of technological advances brought by expanded budgets should be applied. Our ideal future for education is not an internet system that can accommodate thousands of students.  Our ideal future is teachers directly instructing students in classrooms (as they have always), excpet they do so with unlimited hi-tech resources at their disposal.