Stew’s Blog

Yesterday I completed my presentation on how I have used Wikispaces in my classroom.  The whole focus on my presentation wasn’t about how to use wikispaces but more about why I think it is an important and powerful tool to teach and encourage collaborative learning in todays classroom.  The way that I set the my class wiki up was as a unit review for each of the unit tests given in Socials 10.  My goal was to allow equal access to the same information for all students no matter what level of learning they were currently at.  Every member in the class played a role and contributed to the wiki and therefore each and every learner took ownership and responsibility for what was on the space.  I have to say that it was a huge success, not in terms of marks increasing but more so in developing confidence amongst the group of learners in that particular class and encouraging them to use each other as resources and work together for a common goal.  This was the main point of my presentation that I hoped to get across to my audience.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that people were genuinely interested in my wikispace.  They were also really supportive of why I was using wikis and how I used them.  I was able to get people signed up during the session, ready to use the space next september.  I initially feared that because all of us have signed on to the Tlite wiki that most people would already know how to use wikis and understand a variety of ways to implement them in the classroom.  Much to my surprise it was the other way around, they knew about the wiki that we have for Tlite but didn’t know how to use it, and hadn’t given it much thought as to how they would implement one into the classroom.  All in all I felt that my presentation went really well and the people that were in the audience were really appreciative of it.

How are you as an “exemplary tech user?” 

I think that I am somewhat of an exemplary tech user in that I have developed blogs, wikis and other applications within my classes that other staff members appear to be really intrigued by.  I have shown several staff members how to develop their own technology within the classroom and the reasons why they have worked for me.  My students are benfitting from learning to work collaboratively in the classroom, a skill that will lead them into being productive members of the work force.  I have been encouraged by parents who have shown me full support on initiatives such as creating class wiki spaces that enable all learners equal access to information. 

How do you define “exemplary tech user?” 

To me the definition of exemplary tech user is an individual who others want to learn from and look up to in search of new methods of instruction and delivery.  Someone with fresh ideas, ideas that promote student involvement, teacher learning, and staff collaboration.  An exemplary tech user should be a willing leader within the school, someone the staff can turn to for ideas and help.  They should be someone who isn’t afraid to try new things and push the boundaries beyond what they are normally capable of.  In many ways this is what the Tlite program is all about.  Pushing the boundaries and learning new technologies, connecting them to educational practice.

What are your visions as an “exemplary tech user?”

This particular question ties in with my field study in that next year I am taking on a leadership role within the school and piloting the first year of distributive learning in school district 45.  For me this an initiative that I was interested in as soon as I found out about the opportunity.  Through this experience I will be developing the Planning 10 online course for the district which can then be shared with other colleagues.  I will also have the opportunity to be one of the first employees in the district to use the new inside45 portal.  This experience will make me a resource in the district as the rest of the staff start to take on the new portal system and seek help from those of us who have used it before.  This ties into my response above as I become a leader within the district on inside45.

What are your student centered & student directed curricula?

In terms of my student centered and student directed curricula, I accomplished a lot of different tasks this year.  What I consider to be my biggest motivator and have the biggest impact on my students was the wikispace I facilitated.  My purpose behind the wikispace was to create an environment where every student in the class was provided with the opportunity to have equal access to the same information when studying for tests.  Too often as teachers we give the students a study review and ask them to finish before they leave and post the answers towards the end of the lesson.  With the wikispace, I set up an area for the students to answer the unit review online while other students (the class leaders) would edit the information to ensure it was correct and then all students could print a copy off and take it with them.  The motivation for the students to complete this was completely self driven.  Not once did I have to ask a student to add to the wiki as all had a positive role to play and felt confident in what they were doing. 

Another activity I set up throughout the year was a class blog for work experience.  I wanted a way for the students to communicate amongst one another on issues they were facing at their placements.  For too many years the program was set up to internalize your experiences and simply write them down on a journal to hand in at the end of the year.  There was never the opportunity to share each others experiences and how to deal with certain situations etc.  Therefore, I set up the blog site for the class to facilitate this communication amongst students.  Again this was a resounding success and students didn’t need any motivation to get involved.  In fact they were quite happy to help each other out and provide advice on how to deal with common problems that arise with being a young worker.

 I also developed several projects that had the students use publisher, powerpoint and embed youtube video clips into presentations.  The purpose of such activities was more to provide students with choices when completing assignments. Therefore, those who were more creative in terms of the arts could draw their safety posters whereas those who were more tech saavy could use publisher to complete the same task but using very different tools to complete the task.

LEARNING ACTIVITY #2: Situating yourself as a learner

Autobiography

Name: Stewart Baker

Birthplace: Buxton, England

Education: University of Victoria, B.Ed Secondary (PE & Socials)

Practicum: School District # 61, Lambrick Park Secondary, Victoria, BC

First Job: Buxton Community School, England – teaching Design & Tech.

Second Job: West Vancouver Secondary School – first worked as a TOC in the district for one year, currently teaching Work Experience, Socials 9&10, Planning 10.

Teacher Learner

 I consider myself to be a self motivated, somewhat perfectionist learner who pays attention to detail.  I like to learn for myself first, gain a thorough understanding and then apply the content to the classroom.  Since I last wrote this I don’t feel like I have changed all that much.  I still feel very self motivated and perhaps even more so since completing the first year of Tlite.  Tlite has enabled me to apply technologies in the classroom that I didn’t even know existed one year ago and link such ideas to educational purpose.

Learning as I Teach

I am constantly seeking new ideas to teach the same topics i.e. adjusting, revising, tweaking assignments to meet the needs of my students.  I also tend to learn from my students in that if I have an idea about something then I might seek out a student for their input or another colleague.  I have to say that learning as I teach has been an unavoidable issue for me over the past year.  It is almost like trial and error.  No matter how great you think a lesson that introduces a new technology is going to be, something unthought of pops up and provides an obstacle to your goal.  Dealing with these obstacles in the moment has provided me with a self confidence that allows me to teach new technologies to different classes and avoid the stress of it not going as planned.  I guess this has somewhat softened my “perfectionist” tag that I have given myself.  All in all, I really enjoy the idea of learning as I teach as it furthers my self belief and keeps me interested in the task at hand i.e. to educate my students.

Events that trigger learning

My learning tends to stem from what I perceive to be boring, stale lessons to teach that don’t evoke the kind of reaction from my classes that perhaps I am looking for.  I do a lot of self reflection when things don’t go as well as I would like and I seek out other colleagues for their input to see if I can make the lesson stronger.  These types of things trigger my learning in that I go in search of new techniques for delivery of the material to freshen things up.  I have definitely changed in this area as I no longer look for the boring lesson etc to make changes but seek out unique methods or ideas from other staff members and relish the challenge of trying something new and learning from it.  Not only that the events that trigger my learning stem more from curiosity than anything.  I hear all of these different software applications being bounced around on Tlite theme days and usually 1 or 2 stick with me and I seek at further information.  Although I do like to learn things for myself, external influence does play a big part in the learning intiative for me.

How do I know that I have learned something?

I think the basis of my evaluation is judged by the reactions of my students.  Yes I like to learn solely for myself, but more importantly it’s to the benefits of the students that I put forth an effort to search out new ideas etc.  Thus, if I get a positive reaction to a new idea or assignment etc, then its proof that I have learned something.  I think the reflective process is where one really comes to understand whether they have learned something.  Reflecting on what went well, but more importantly what could be improved is where for me the learning process really takes place.  If I can implement or change the things that went wrong and find success then I know that I have learned something.

Myself as a learner

I am a PE teacher by trade and have had a very successful athletic career throughout University and so I see myself as a visual, kinesthetic type learner.  I have always learned from watching others demo something and then trying it for myself, in that sense I am self taught on many things, probably a good thing in a program such as this.  An example of my ability to teach myself and then apply the concepts stems from my soccer days.  I would watch every soccer game I could on TV, not simply for the entertainment value of watching a game but more because I would analyze players and tendencies, movement around the field, movement of the ball.  I really believe this made me into the type of soccer player I am today because I can see things that most players around me don’t understand, and as a result I can create things on the field that lead to positive results.  Despite my frustrations with the Tlite program, I have to say that I have changed as a learner as a result of Tlite.  I have thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of learning new programs, software, and ways of teaching things.  The visual / kinestetic persistence has given way to a more trial and error type learner no longer afraid of failure, and more focussed on the end goal, success.

Myself as a teacher

My teaching philosophy is that education is about more than facts, figures, equations and memorization.  It’s about learning to be a productive member of society, taking responsibility for one’s own actions, not blaming others, treating people with respect, learning the importance of working hard to obtain your goals etc.  That’s me as a teacher, I try to teach about the qualities in life rather than just “getting through” the content knowledge.  I think a lot of times kids get caught up in this notion that if I don’t get the “A” then I’m not successful.  I’m a command and practice style teacher first who gets the material out there to the class and then lets them take on the responsibility to piece the material together to gather meaning from it.  Not much has changed in terms of myself as a teacher, I am still a control freak in terms of the old school command style teaching, however, I am relinquishing some of that control in that I am learning more from my students than I ever thought possible.

As of September I will be teaching online through the West Vancouver School District therefore, I have chosen 2 questions to start that I think will help guide me with this new way of teaching.  Already my intial question has become 2 questions and thus I will post both of them to provide a sense of where it is I am trying to go with my field sudy.

1.  How can I establish, maintain, and promote student motivation to participate in the online learning process? 

2.  How can I make online learning successful?

Sub-questions

How do I motivate all students to participate in the online learning environment?

What role can the parents play in the online learning process?

How do I engage students and encourage them to participate in the discussion process?

How do students view online learning and are those attitudes different from a more structured and conventional learning environment?

How do I make sure students stay on task and don’t fall behind in a minimally structured environment?

How might I use message boards etc to manage effective dialogue & communication on important issues? 

Thanks, Stew Baker

Podcasting in Education: Effective or just another fancy toy to keep students attention? 

Blogging, facebook, wikispaces, and now podcasting, these are all the latest and greatest online sources that students are using on a daily basis but do they have any use inside the classroom?  The focus in this position paper will examine the issue of podcasting.  What is podcasting?  How does it relate to education?  Why is it important to educators? And the impact this source of media has on one’s own teaching practice.  These are some of the many questions being raised as we enter an age of technological dominance.  By coming to grips with the issues faced by educators then one can decide the path best for them and whether the aim to capitalize on some of these amazing opportunities is a possibility for all.

According to Apple, “podcasting offers an ideal tool for the creative expression of knowledge preferred by today’s students, and provides an exciting way for students and educators to explore and discover educational content.”   (Apple, accessed June 23, 2008)  Apple goes even further explaining that “podcasting is also a great way for educators to deliver content to their students. They can distribute homework assignments, record book narration for beginning readers to read along with, or create foreign language lessons that students can review at their own pace.” (Apple, accessed June 23, 2008)  Of course they do!  Apple has a vested interest in pushing the podcast medium into the classroom as they are the inventors of the IPod.  Even those people who don’t own an IPod but own some other form of MP3 call their devices an IPod.  IPod is a term that has become as much a part of our everyday lives as the automobile.  But does this mean that we should be bringing IPods into our classrooms? 

The educational benefits of IPods are hard to dismiss.  It has been suggested that “podcasting can help hone students’ vocabulary, writing, editing, public speaking, and presentation skills.”  (Borja, Dec 7, 2005)  In fact Elementary school teachers that use this particular device say that the benefits of making podcasts are clear.  For example, a fifth grade teacher writes, “my students research better, read more, write better and understand the material.” (Shen, Oct 20, 2005)  Obviously this is a medium that has value in some parts of the education system, but the underlining question has to be is this for everyone?  Moreover, is this an appropriate tool for high school use?  I think this is an important issue for educators because as a high school educator I see students plugged in at every opportunity.  It seems that each year Ipods are becoming more of a distraction in the classroom rather than serving any educational purpose.  I really struggle to justify the use of IPods purely because of the distraction the device brings along with it.  Yes one could argue then why not hone that distraction and turn it into opportunity.  Turn it into a teachable moment.  The problem I have come up against for all of the research I have completed thus far is that very few, if any, examples of podcast use in education have applied to the high school level.  Book reviews sound great, recording lectures in University sounds useful, but how can I take such a popular mainstream portable device and apply it to my classroom with educational purpose?  I want to avoid the popular decision to use something because everybody has one and instead apply an idea because it makes sense in terms of student learning.  Only then can a educator make the decision on whether podcasting is right for them given  and their classroom environment.    

 Stew Baker

Apple Inc. (2008). Podcasting in Education. In Apple Education K-12. Retrieved June 23, 2008, from      http://www.apple.com/education/digitalauthoring/podcasting.html

 This is a great resource in terms of trying to research the potential benefits of podcasting in the classroom.  I think my reason for choosing this is quite simply I’m not sure if podcasting is a realistic option in a highschool classroom setting.  I think the benefits of podcasting are undeniable but I’m not sure it is an efficient tool to use when there are other less involved or less time consuming ways to achieve the same educational purpose.

Borja, R. R. (2005, December 7). Podcasting Craze Comes to K-12 Schools. Education Week, 25(14). Retrieved June 23, 2008, from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/12/07/14po

 The author explains how podcasting is acraze quickly taking over the classroom in schools today.  It goes onto explain how podcasts are used to record interviews and novel studies in elementary school.

Shen/The Washington Post, F. (2005, October 20). Teachers see IPods as an educational tool . The Seattle Times.

This article explains particular teachers views on podcasting from elementary teachers to university professors.  It also goes on explain that Ipods are extremely distracting in the classroom and more often than not require teachers to make it known that these devices should be put away in back packs etc.

Campbell, Gardner. “There’s Something inthe Air: Podcasting in Education.” Educause November / December 2005 http://educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0561.pdf.

This is a great resource in terms of trying to research the potential benefits of podcasting in the classroom.  I think my reason for choosing this is quite simply I’m not sure if podcasting is a realistic option in a highschool classroom setting.  I think the benefits of podcasting are undeniable but I’m not sure it is an efficient tool to use when there are other less involved or less time consuming ways to achieve the same educational purpose.