Article Review 7
http://blog.reyjunco.com/will-itextbooks-increase-student-engagement-not-really
The article by Dr. Junco really is quite interesting. I greatly appreciate the discussion on engagement versus cool. I think that other teachers (and perhaps administrators) feel that my inclusion of various technology techniques in my classroom is engaging, and some of it may be, but is it the technology itself that makes the student desire to learn? I think not. I do, however, believe that how the teacher approaches the lesson, or activity, can help shape the students' engagement of said activity. I couldn't help but think about the coolness of an entire class of students using a German textbook on an iPad in my class. Way cool! But in reality, the students would still be reading a textbook. Just the fact that you change the way they read it, it's still not very engaging. How about using an iPad to communicate with students in Germany? Now that can be engaging (if approached correctly). Is it the iPad that makes the engagement, or is it the activity?
I think educators need to spend more time devoted to planning more creative and engaging projects for students to complete rather than try to figure out how to teach the same lessons they've taught for years but incorporating some cool techno trick. Converting all of your overheads to PowerPoint presentations is probably a good thing, but no more engaging. Review quiz material by playing Jeopardy is probably incredibly engaging for student who are used to review quiz material by reading their notes, but let's start thinking more big picture. What will excite the students enough to want to do something with their learned knowledge or skills? In the world language model, how do our students perform in the target language? It's great that they can memorize 3 zillion vocab words, but can they order a coke in Shanghai?
Monday, February 20, 2012
Article Review 6
Article Review 6
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217885/Your_next_job_Mobile_app_developer_?taxonomyId=11&pageNumber=1
This article will make you say "wow". When we think of the modern 2012 America - we think of the high rates of unemployment, the seemingly endless amounts of local and national debt, and on the education front, we see our lovely little students with their smartphones and other devices. A quick aside - I absolutely love it when I bust a student in class with a cell phone. Now it's true, in German class, we utilize cell phones sometimes as an instructional tool, but 95% of the time, they need to be put away. So when we - for example - watch a video...the lights go down...the students all seem to be vibrantly engages in the German whatever we are watching. Then, like a meteor blazing down from outer space, someone lights up like the Griswold's on Christmas Eve ("Joy to the worrrllld"). Then they wonder how I catch them with the phones and say "Wow Mr. Gravitt, you're like a cell phone Nazi!" No. I am no cell phone Nazi - I just notice it when all of a sudden Johnny's entire torso and face lights up as he's looking under his desk. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out (Ok, no offense to you rocket scientists out there - I know you're not the only ones who are "smart"). Back to the article...
When you look at an article like this and realize how many jobs exist in the mobile app development sector, it kind of makes you sick. I understand, as indicated in the article, that many of these jobs aren't necessarily full-time app development team positions, but even for the consultants out there - TONS OF WORK TO BE DONE! It makes me eager to begin my journey on app development - and with some html, java and other fun coding work under my belt, I look forward to jumping in full force.
I do believe, as the article says, that more business and organizations will be developing apps over the course of the next few years. Not sure the mega big or super high tech companies, but smaller companies will be developing apps to help stay fresh and compete with their competitors. I couldn't help but think of my new bank (I just switched banks - long story - and I shall not be naming the institution either). When you see commercials on TV and online that boast (for example) the new Bank of America app, and the Schwab app, don't you wish that your bank had that too? I sure as heck do. I believe this is going to be a trend that we see continuing - more smaller, local entities developing apps to compete with the larger companies. We all always want the newest, latest, and greatest "thing" to show off to our friends, or to make our life seem easier. Can we accomplish this with locally owned businesses? I think it sounds like a nice challenge to me.
Enough rambling for now - interesting stuff for sure.
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217885/Your_next_job_Mobile_app_developer_?taxonomyId=11&pageNumber=1
This article will make you say "wow". When we think of the modern 2012 America - we think of the high rates of unemployment, the seemingly endless amounts of local and national debt, and on the education front, we see our lovely little students with their smartphones and other devices. A quick aside - I absolutely love it when I bust a student in class with a cell phone. Now it's true, in German class, we utilize cell phones sometimes as an instructional tool, but 95% of the time, they need to be put away. So when we - for example - watch a video...the lights go down...the students all seem to be vibrantly engages in the German whatever we are watching. Then, like a meteor blazing down from outer space, someone lights up like the Griswold's on Christmas Eve ("Joy to the worrrllld"). Then they wonder how I catch them with the phones and say "Wow Mr. Gravitt, you're like a cell phone Nazi!" No. I am no cell phone Nazi - I just notice it when all of a sudden Johnny's entire torso and face lights up as he's looking under his desk. Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure that one out (Ok, no offense to you rocket scientists out there - I know you're not the only ones who are "smart"). Back to the article...
When you look at an article like this and realize how many jobs exist in the mobile app development sector, it kind of makes you sick. I understand, as indicated in the article, that many of these jobs aren't necessarily full-time app development team positions, but even for the consultants out there - TONS OF WORK TO BE DONE! It makes me eager to begin my journey on app development - and with some html, java and other fun coding work under my belt, I look forward to jumping in full force.
I do believe, as the article says, that more business and organizations will be developing apps over the course of the next few years. Not sure the mega big or super high tech companies, but smaller companies will be developing apps to help stay fresh and compete with their competitors. I couldn't help but think of my new bank (I just switched banks - long story - and I shall not be naming the institution either). When you see commercials on TV and online that boast (for example) the new Bank of America app, and the Schwab app, don't you wish that your bank had that too? I sure as heck do. I believe this is going to be a trend that we see continuing - more smaller, local entities developing apps to compete with the larger companies. We all always want the newest, latest, and greatest "thing" to show off to our friends, or to make our life seem easier. Can we accomplish this with locally owned businesses? I think it sounds like a nice challenge to me.
Enough rambling for now - interesting stuff for sure.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Article Review 5
Article Review 5
http://gigaom.com/2012/02/06/jetblue-iphone-app-website-redesign/
Even though this article is a bit short, it really hits on some major topics, regardless of the company. The idea that more and more companies (and the federal government, schools, etc) are realizing the effectiveness of apps, mobile versions of websites, and integration with social media, is causing quite a buzz right now. As more companies are investing more money in web marketing, there is a boom happening in the mobile sector. This is probably not a bad plan as much more users are connected to the web, either on the go or at home. As social media continues to grow, I think more people are getting on board with the fact that they need to use this to their advantage - integrating their social media with the sites they like to use, read, etc. At this point in time, if you are a business or an organization (or a teacher) and you have a web presence, you must also ensure there is a mobile version of your site, and integrate Facebook, Twitter, or more. This is how people communicate today, especially students, so we must capitalize on this to get the most bang for out buck.
http://gigaom.com/2012/02/06/jetblue-iphone-app-website-redesign/
Even though this article is a bit short, it really hits on some major topics, regardless of the company. The idea that more and more companies (and the federal government, schools, etc) are realizing the effectiveness of apps, mobile versions of websites, and integration with social media, is causing quite a buzz right now. As more companies are investing more money in web marketing, there is a boom happening in the mobile sector. This is probably not a bad plan as much more users are connected to the web, either on the go or at home. As social media continues to grow, I think more people are getting on board with the fact that they need to use this to their advantage - integrating their social media with the sites they like to use, read, etc. At this point in time, if you are a business or an organization (or a teacher) and you have a web presence, you must also ensure there is a mobile version of your site, and integrate Facebook, Twitter, or more. This is how people communicate today, especially students, so we must capitalize on this to get the most bang for out buck.
Article Review 4
Article Review 4
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/01/07/10-of-the-best-apps-for-education/
As I continue on my quest of determining what is the best type of app to create, I found this article to be very interesting in identifying the top ten educational apps. Here, I will provide my opinion on all ten of the apps reviewed. I downloaded the free apps, and read otherreviews on the pay apps (yes, im cheap). Here we go...
Word Lens - as a language teacher, I have already played around with this app before. The concept is fantastico, but the execution is horrid. I had played around some with the Spanish version, and found if you have a rock solid hand, it would seem to jumble the words into what appeared to be Spanish. If the font of the original text was not standard, it wouldn't work, or if your hand moved ever so slightly, it would kind of go haywire. Like the concept, just not the app for me.
Molecules - love love love this app. I can only imagine how useful this can be for science teachers. For student to be able to see up close, and manipulate difference structures - great! I didn't notice any glaring problems, but I am far from a science teacher (it possible had all incorrect info, but I can't speak on that. It seems legit to me).
Blackboard - great mobile interface for this service. Of course, one must be utilizing blackboard already to use this for courses. Working in the high school setting, and also finishing my MA, I see more and more people, who used Blackboard, now using Moodle or other sites to share their content (or manage online classes). It would be fun to have an online "blackboard like" app that teachers and students could use with already having a previous relationship (with one of ese sites). Hum...ideas are coming.
Today in History - fabulous. There are always neat things that have happened on virtually every day. This provides students the opportunity to stay on top of the info. Being a world traveler and global citizen, I wonder how one would request more info from other regions of the world (more German history for example). Over this is great.
Math Ref Free - shouldn't students have these formulas in the notes and/or textbooks? This seems like a nice resource, but almost redundant to me. The practicality of this app for a high school student just doesn't seem there to me. Perhaps a math major at university, but 600 formulas? Seems like a lot. Make sure you upgrade to get 700 more formulas!
PI83 Graphing Calculator - oh to be a math student in the 21st century! What I could have done with that $70 I spent on that massive TI83 thing...talking about good deal, buy this, use this, every high school student should love this. And their parents too! I'm sure there could be something wrong with this app, but the idea is great, and I can't see how anyone would be upset with this.
Star Walk - I've checked out similar apps and have always been unimpressed. This seems like a better situation (reminder, I have not purchased the pay apps - only actually trying the free ones - cheap...cheap graduate student). If someone really likes to star gaze and identify every constellation they see, I think this seems like a good app for that. Rather than lugging around a constellation guide book (which you can't read in the dark anyway), makes great sense to me to use a mobile device (backlit) to do this. Happy gazing!
Cram - ok, I must actually download this one and try it out. The idea of the teacher being able to create materials and then share them with students is brilliant! Particularly for a foreign language, I'm always worried that my students will misspell a word, or learn the wrong gender for a noun as they are studying, then they have a learned mistake in their collection of words...not good! This way, I can verify that their flashcards actually are 100% correct before they begin to use them. Yes please.
Essay Grader - really? Are we teachers that pressed for time? I don't like this idea at all. If A teacher wants to assign an essay, they need to be prepared to invest time in the essays themselves. Yes, it's true, grading essays is tough, but in reality, it it your personalized rfeedback that makes the student stronger. Why are we trying to give canned comments on students' individual work. How about the students just start giving us canned essays? If the teacher is using "essay grader" then I think the students need an app called essay writer. Not fair huh? (sorry essay grader creator, I just feel that this is taking the lazy approach for something that need more respect)
eClicker - yes yes and yes. I just inherited an actual clicker system to use in my classroom, but this is a fantastic use of technology. If every student has an iDevice - this can be great for sure. It gives a bit of pressure, and gives the teacher immediate feedback on the formative assessment (and can also be summative) so that the teacher can change their instruction as needed. Love it.
http://www.eschoolnews.com/2011/01/07/10-of-the-best-apps-for-education/
As I continue on my quest of determining what is the best type of app to create, I found this article to be very interesting in identifying the top ten educational apps. Here, I will provide my opinion on all ten of the apps reviewed. I downloaded the free apps, and read otherreviews on the pay apps (yes, im cheap). Here we go...
Word Lens - as a language teacher, I have already played around with this app before. The concept is fantastico, but the execution is horrid. I had played around some with the Spanish version, and found if you have a rock solid hand, it would seem to jumble the words into what appeared to be Spanish. If the font of the original text was not standard, it wouldn't work, or if your hand moved ever so slightly, it would kind of go haywire. Like the concept, just not the app for me.
Molecules - love love love this app. I can only imagine how useful this can be for science teachers. For student to be able to see up close, and manipulate difference structures - great! I didn't notice any glaring problems, but I am far from a science teacher (it possible had all incorrect info, but I can't speak on that. It seems legit to me).
Blackboard - great mobile interface for this service. Of course, one must be utilizing blackboard already to use this for courses. Working in the high school setting, and also finishing my MA, I see more and more people, who used Blackboard, now using Moodle or other sites to share their content (or manage online classes). It would be fun to have an online "blackboard like" app that teachers and students could use with already having a previous relationship (with one of ese sites). Hum...ideas are coming.
Today in History - fabulous. There are always neat things that have happened on virtually every day. This provides students the opportunity to stay on top of the info. Being a world traveler and global citizen, I wonder how one would request more info from other regions of the world (more German history for example). Over this is great.
Math Ref Free - shouldn't students have these formulas in the notes and/or textbooks? This seems like a nice resource, but almost redundant to me. The practicality of this app for a high school student just doesn't seem there to me. Perhaps a math major at university, but 600 formulas? Seems like a lot. Make sure you upgrade to get 700 more formulas!
PI83 Graphing Calculator - oh to be a math student in the 21st century! What I could have done with that $70 I spent on that massive TI83 thing...talking about good deal, buy this, use this, every high school student should love this. And their parents too! I'm sure there could be something wrong with this app, but the idea is great, and I can't see how anyone would be upset with this.
Star Walk - I've checked out similar apps and have always been unimpressed. This seems like a better situation (reminder, I have not purchased the pay apps - only actually trying the free ones - cheap...cheap graduate student). If someone really likes to star gaze and identify every constellation they see, I think this seems like a good app for that. Rather than lugging around a constellation guide book (which you can't read in the dark anyway), makes great sense to me to use a mobile device (backlit) to do this. Happy gazing!
Cram - ok, I must actually download this one and try it out. The idea of the teacher being able to create materials and then share them with students is brilliant! Particularly for a foreign language, I'm always worried that my students will misspell a word, or learn the wrong gender for a noun as they are studying, then they have a learned mistake in their collection of words...not good! This way, I can verify that their flashcards actually are 100% correct before they begin to use them. Yes please.
Essay Grader - really? Are we teachers that pressed for time? I don't like this idea at all. If A teacher wants to assign an essay, they need to be prepared to invest time in the essays themselves. Yes, it's true, grading essays is tough, but in reality, it it your personalized rfeedback that makes the student stronger. Why are we trying to give canned comments on students' individual work. How about the students just start giving us canned essays? If the teacher is using "essay grader" then I think the students need an app called essay writer. Not fair huh? (sorry essay grader creator, I just feel that this is taking the lazy approach for something that need more respect)
eClicker - yes yes and yes. I just inherited an actual clicker system to use in my classroom, but this is a fantastic use of technology. If every student has an iDevice - this can be great for sure. It gives a bit of pressure, and gives the teacher immediate feedback on the formative assessment (and can also be summative) so that the teacher can change their instruction as needed. Love it.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Article Review 3
Article Review 3
http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/02/09/02apps.h04.html
I find this article quite useful for my journey of app development. As my head has been spinning to figure out just exactly what type of app I want to create, this hit me at a great time (not to mention it is a snow day). As Ian Quillan indicates, there is a broad range of educational apps, but very few that actually can function in a classroom. The teacher-student feedback in more important than I think many people are letting on to here, and you can't replace the human element. How do I know that my students are engaged when we are engaging in conversation in German? Well, if they respond to my prompts or questions accurately, if their grammar and sentence structure is on cue, and body language. If they are engaging in conversation through a mobile app, I may not know at all if they actually are meeting my targets. I think it's all about how the teacher monitors the use of these devices in classrooms. It is the teachers responsibility to ensure students are on task and engaged.
There are many ways this can be done. Some have been presented in this article, such as LanSchool Technologies, that help teachers monitor what's going on, but I think this can be done without the use of more tricky software (no offense LanSchool - honestly I am not familiar with your software). For example, I utilize a document camera and have students share what they are doing, what they find, etc. to the rest of the class. This not only highlights that student's work, but also ensures they stay on task, as they are never sure when they may be called up to the document camera.
As the author clearly states, we should not look toward apps or other new technologies to "fix" or to replace tradition instruction. Let's face it, most of us also learning in school via "traditional" education and we've turned out fine (ok, maybe not fine, but decent). Let's look toward using these technologies, mobile devices, and mobile applications to enhance that which we are already doing in the classroom. We shouldn't try to replace our normal classroom techniques (unless, of course, they are not successful), but rather make them better. A good friend has always said to me, "you don't want to teach your first year 27 times (currently the amount of years worked it takes to retire in Kentucky...not that I'm counting, but I'm down to 22 years and a few months...3 to be exact), but rather make each year different by gradually improving on your methods and techniques." This is where technology comes into play.
http://www.edweek.org/dd/articles/2011/02/09/02apps.h04.html
I find this article quite useful for my journey of app development. As my head has been spinning to figure out just exactly what type of app I want to create, this hit me at a great time (not to mention it is a snow day). As Ian Quillan indicates, there is a broad range of educational apps, but very few that actually can function in a classroom. The teacher-student feedback in more important than I think many people are letting on to here, and you can't replace the human element. How do I know that my students are engaged when we are engaging in conversation in German? Well, if they respond to my prompts or questions accurately, if their grammar and sentence structure is on cue, and body language. If they are engaging in conversation through a mobile app, I may not know at all if they actually are meeting my targets. I think it's all about how the teacher monitors the use of these devices in classrooms. It is the teachers responsibility to ensure students are on task and engaged.
There are many ways this can be done. Some have been presented in this article, such as LanSchool Technologies, that help teachers monitor what's going on, but I think this can be done without the use of more tricky software (no offense LanSchool - honestly I am not familiar with your software). For example, I utilize a document camera and have students share what they are doing, what they find, etc. to the rest of the class. This not only highlights that student's work, but also ensures they stay on task, as they are never sure when they may be called up to the document camera.
As the author clearly states, we should not look toward apps or other new technologies to "fix" or to replace tradition instruction. Let's face it, most of us also learning in school via "traditional" education and we've turned out fine (ok, maybe not fine, but decent). Let's look toward using these technologies, mobile devices, and mobile applications to enhance that which we are already doing in the classroom. We shouldn't try to replace our normal classroom techniques (unless, of course, they are not successful), but rather make them better. A good friend has always said to me, "you don't want to teach your first year 27 times (currently the amount of years worked it takes to retire in Kentucky...not that I'm counting, but I'm down to 22 years and a few months...3 to be exact), but rather make each year different by gradually improving on your methods and techniques." This is where technology comes into play.
Article Review 2
Article Review 2
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/piyush-mangukiya/mobile-apps-education_b_1250582.html
After reading this article, I feel a bit more empowered (I guess it's a balance eih?). As Mr. Mangukiya suggests, more and more schools are moving away from the traditional idea of school, and coming closer to a mobile, online, digital structure. The possibilities with iTunes U and digital textbooks are endless. From the practicality standpoint, the age old question, what do we do about students who don't have access at home? We cannot assume everyone will have access, and we cannot expect those without access to "go to the public library" or "come before or after school to the library" (both phrases I've used before, and quickly realized they are not options sometimes).
I do feel that a world where students all have mobile devises (iPads or other), zero textbooks, and paperless assignments will be a fun place. After spending a day (or it might have been two) learning about all of the cool new apps (2 years ago) that existed for our use, I thought, "Wow, how cool will it be to "beam" the homework assignment to the students or have the student click a QR code to download the worksheet!" Yes, very cool indeed. But if any of you have actually spent time in a classroom (and I'm talking actually teaching, not just observing), you'd quickly realize that when using any technology, there is always something that will fail, always students who just can't get it, and always the unique time constraints of a teacher (students signing in/out for the day, sick students, disabled students, etc).
In all honesty, I love the possibilities of what out 21st Century advances can do for us in the classroom. The excitement of something new is inspiring, but we all must temper this with practical execution. How can this really work in an average classroom?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/piyush-mangukiya/mobile-apps-education_b_1250582.html
After reading this article, I feel a bit more empowered (I guess it's a balance eih?). As Mr. Mangukiya suggests, more and more schools are moving away from the traditional idea of school, and coming closer to a mobile, online, digital structure. The possibilities with iTunes U and digital textbooks are endless. From the practicality standpoint, the age old question, what do we do about students who don't have access at home? We cannot assume everyone will have access, and we cannot expect those without access to "go to the public library" or "come before or after school to the library" (both phrases I've used before, and quickly realized they are not options sometimes).
I do feel that a world where students all have mobile devises (iPads or other), zero textbooks, and paperless assignments will be a fun place. After spending a day (or it might have been two) learning about all of the cool new apps (2 years ago) that existed for our use, I thought, "Wow, how cool will it be to "beam" the homework assignment to the students or have the student click a QR code to download the worksheet!" Yes, very cool indeed. But if any of you have actually spent time in a classroom (and I'm talking actually teaching, not just observing), you'd quickly realize that when using any technology, there is always something that will fail, always students who just can't get it, and always the unique time constraints of a teacher (students signing in/out for the day, sick students, disabled students, etc).
In all honesty, I love the possibilities of what out 21st Century advances can do for us in the classroom. The excitement of something new is inspiring, but we all must temper this with practical execution. How can this really work in an average classroom?
Article Review 1
Article Review 1
http://www.hackeducation.com/2011/02/17/mobile-phones-educational-apps-and-the-digital-divide/
This article, written by Audrey Watters in 2011, really has me thinking! As I designed this independent study course, I wanted to discover the benefits and drawback of educational use of apps, and design my own, but as the author indicates, only 27% of mobile devise owners actually own smart phones. This statistic drastically reduces in minority populations, and global populations. Is it actually practical to create an app? As Ms. Watters suggests, would it not be better to design a great website that can be easily accessible on any web browser? I greatly appreciate her use of the term "shiny app syndrome" as I feel I too am victim of this mindset.
Even though this article has made me think a bit (which is probably a good thing), I am proceeding with my voyage of app discovery and development. Being a classroom teacher for five years, I recognize the important of "shiny" and "new" in the classroom. Even though my students do not all own person devices, we have a set a iPod touches and wifi available to us as needed. The students ask all the time, "Mr. Gravitt, when can we use the iPods again?" I like to keep it that way - something the students want to use. It creates a desire to use these devices to learn.
Yes, it is true, websites need to be a bit more user friendly (hence why I decided on creating a site on blogger versus other sites - I wanted the built in mobility), but for the education world, shouldn't we be happy with students being excited to do something? Sometimes we need "shiny" and "new" to keep our classroom environments working in harmony. Particularly in a non-core content course (like German), we're got to include these things to keep our subject up to date and relevant to the students and what they perceive to be cool.
http://www.hackeducation.com/2011/02/17/mobile-phones-educational-apps-and-the-digital-divide/
This article, written by Audrey Watters in 2011, really has me thinking! As I designed this independent study course, I wanted to discover the benefits and drawback of educational use of apps, and design my own, but as the author indicates, only 27% of mobile devise owners actually own smart phones. This statistic drastically reduces in minority populations, and global populations. Is it actually practical to create an app? As Ms. Watters suggests, would it not be better to design a great website that can be easily accessible on any web browser? I greatly appreciate her use of the term "shiny app syndrome" as I feel I too am victim of this mindset.
Even though this article has made me think a bit (which is probably a good thing), I am proceeding with my voyage of app discovery and development. Being a classroom teacher for five years, I recognize the important of "shiny" and "new" in the classroom. Even though my students do not all own person devices, we have a set a iPod touches and wifi available to us as needed. The students ask all the time, "Mr. Gravitt, when can we use the iPods again?" I like to keep it that way - something the students want to use. It creates a desire to use these devices to learn.
Yes, it is true, websites need to be a bit more user friendly (hence why I decided on creating a site on blogger versus other sites - I wanted the built in mobility), but for the education world, shouldn't we be happy with students being excited to do something? Sometimes we need "shiny" and "new" to keep our classroom environments working in harmony. Particularly in a non-core content course (like German), we're got to include these things to keep our subject up to date and relevant to the students and what they perceive to be cool.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Thanks for Visiting
Thank you for visiting LukasEdTech - this site is currently under construction - please check back for more content. You can contact the blog owner at lucas.gravitt@gmail.com.
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