Collaborative Project

I continue to be working with a class in Nelson, New Zealand for my collaborative project. It has been a great experience and I have learned a lot from the students and I think they have been getting the same from me. I have created a wiki for their classroom with various videos and activities as to how we connect and my next activity I will be doing with the teacher is a global flashmeeting that will take place next Friday. I hope to provide a recording to my blog as I think it would be a great thing for everyone to listen in on!

Social Network Bans

After completing my “interview a learner” post I was really inspired by Diana Laufenberg’s thoughts but was also reminded of one thing that really bothered me. Many school divisions have put a ban on youtube, facebook and other networking sites like this. I know in my highschool it became a game to try and “outsmart” the teachers to find a way to get on these sites. As Diana said it ends up wasting so much valuable learning time as it causes teachers to have to do more patrolling the teaching.

Another problem I personally have with these bans is the fact that the students may miss out on a lot of great resources. I understand there is a lot of garbage out there but the school divisions can block all these  sites should there not be a way to only block the garbage? Teachers in these school divisions do have access to these sites but do you think it is enough? I believe that the teacher can show a video or help a student collaborate but why shouldn’t the student get the opportunity to explore and make connections?

Here is my question: What are your  thoughts on the bans? Do you think they are the right thing to do or do they cause a loss of learning? Can you pose any solutions?

I don’t know the answers to these questions nor do I know what is right. I do however believe some sort of change should be imposed.The video below is one that I found of a class implementing twitter and other networking sites that could be greatly beneficial to a wide variety of age groups if permitted!

Interview a Learner

For my interview I talked to Diana Laufenberg who teaches in Pennsylvania. She answered the questions in really great detail and I she brought up some extremely interesting points.  If you would like to listen to the recording you can click here. Below I also have a point form version of what she had to say in our interview.

1.What are your thoughts on the use of cell phones in the classroom? Do you think they are beneficial in the learning process? Why or why not?

Diana said that cellphones can be beneficial but do have some limitations. Some ways they can be used are outside the classroom to collect audio or still pictures that can be brought into class. Diana was also involved in a project surrounding the 2008 election to view this click here.

2.Have you ever had difficulties with parents, admin (etc) when trying to integrate any types of technology into the classroom?When she began trying to integrate technology into her classroom back in 2002-2003 she had some difficulty as some parents were a bit skeptical as to how it could be used and for privacy issues but she quickly won them over and now works in a fairly tech savvy school where technology is heavily integrated into the students day.
3. Where can you see technology taking your classroom in the next five to ten years?

Diana said that she doesn’t look where technology is going to go and what it can do for her classroom because as she told me her school allows for every student to have a MAC book( I think that is pretty awesome!) So for her she wants to see technology be able to blur the boundaries between school and home and allow for more learning to be able to happen elsewhere.

4. When introducing new technologies into an activity how do you share time between the actual task and the learning of technology?

In Diana’s current setting she says she spends almost no time teaching technology as the kids have a pretty good feel for it due to their setting. In her old setting, she did find herself teaching it a bit more but she would give them whatever they needed to get going and then allowed her students to collaborate together to keep discovering technology.

5. a lot of parents, teachers, principals, and school boards are hesitant to embrace technology in all of its forms (such as facebook, you tube, and cell phones) due to privacy issues and the lack of control they could have by allowing these technologies to exist in classrooms. Do you think these are reasonable concerns and do you believe the authorities are reacting correctly by banning the uses of these particular technologies in schools/classrooms?

Diana believes banning anything is generally a bad idea especially when speaking in terms of sites. She believes banning such sites just makes it a game for kids to get into them and as a teacher you end up spending more time trying to catch them or stop them from doing it.

6.Has there been any challenge for you in implementing technology in your classroom?

One of Diana’s biggest challenges was in her old setting and that was getting the devices she needed in her classroom and finding the tools required that would be best suited for the children. In her new setting she doesn’t believe she has any challenges with technology because they typically have the kids working on their own lap top whenever they want them to.
7. How has twitter allowed for you to collaborate with other teachers?

Diana said that Twitter has absolutely allowed for her to collaborate with teachers. It got her a job at her current setting, put her in contact with people all over the place for ideas regarding her teaching and has also allowed her to connect with people to help her class that she normally would have no idea how to get in contact with. Click here to see a blog post about why her class loves twitter!

My thoughts..

After talking with Diana I have really be reinspired to explore and implement technology into my future classroom. I have also been re convinced that twitter can be a really great tool for collaboration in education. I think her passion for technology and teaching is very evident and I hope to implement some of her ideas and values into my future classrooms!