Wearable Technology

Wearable Technology is the "promise" of the future. Google, for example, has released Google Glasses, and the prediction is that they will be widespread in the next few years. Wearable technology is essentially a computer that one can wear. Google glasses are able to record videos and pictures. They can give text notifications, they can bring information right to the eyes. It is activated through voice command.
Wearable technology, such as Google Glasses, seems scary. Perhaps that sounds old-fashioned, to be afraid of new technology, but to me it sounds like a whole redefining of what privacy is. There is so much room for someone to be invading your personal privacy without even know it. Can these glasses record videos and photos without anyone but the wearer knowing? I would assume the answer is yes. Even with phones it's hard to know if someone is taking a picture or not.
Wearable Technology makes me imagine that there is no "unplugging". You can literally just walk around, hands free with your "computer" on and just one word away. You can take a photo or record a video with barely a blink.
Wearable technology, if it becomes the popular trend it's predicted to be, will change the way we view technology as a society, as well as how we define public vs private space.

Final Reflection Blog Post

Technology continues to leap forward, advancing faster than the average person can keep up with. The generation growing up currently has never known life before smartphones, tablets, and a widespread availability of free wifi. Kids are growing up in a technology-filled world. They learn to multi-task, watching TV, texting with friends on their phone, and checking Facebook on their laptops. As a result, kids are learning in a different way. They have a deep connection with technology, and can use it in a myriad of ways.

I’ve personally been very interested in the way that smartphones play a part in education. No matter what teachers want to say, it cannot be denied that smartphones are a factor in education. Whether a student is using their phone to research a topic in class or sneakily snapchat their friends, the phones have a role in the classroom. I wanted to explore the way teachers and students use smartphones in the classroom or for schoolwork.

I created a survey that asked three questions anonymously. “Do your teachers generally allow you to use your phone for educational purposes in class?”  “How do you think using your smartphone in class would affect your learning?” “Do you check your phone or use your phone in class for non-educational purposes (texting, Facebook, Snapchat, etc)? If yes, how often?”

I asked these questions of my Content class. In my content class, I have 26 students. 23 students answered in some form of “No” for the first question, with 3 students answering “Yes”. Out of the students that said “No” 9 of them said some form of “Sometimes it’s allowed if I ask.” So, at least at the high school I am in, students are generally not using their smartphones in class. Some students have used their phones on occasion, to look something up or to play music while they work. However, students are largely not using their phones as technology towards learning in their education.

For the second question, “How do you think using your smartphone in class would affect your learning?” I got a surprising result. I predicted that most, if not all, my students would want to use their smartphones in class and would consider it to be beneficial to their learning. Instead, only 12 out of the 26 students thought it would affect their learning in a positive way. The following response represents the way many of the negative answered, “Using my iphone would be distracting.” An interesting response I received was “I use my phone with homework, but I wouldn’t use it in class.” It seems that students associate their phones with their home life, not their school life. The students who thought it would be beneficial to learning said a few different things. One student said it would help to be able to access the internet during class. Another student said he/she listens better while being able to focus on something else at the same time. One students said that it would help him/her to look up words in class (I’m in an English class).

For the third questions, “Do you check your phone or use your phone in class for non-educational purposes (texting, Facebook, Snapchat, etc)? If yes, how often?” I received mixed responses. 14 students said they never check their phone in class, 12 students said they do check their phone in class for non-educational purposes. One student wrote that he/she checked at least once per period, if not more. The general response was a few times throughout the school day, but not every single period.

This survey led me to a few conclusions. First of all, not one student in my class said that they did not have a smartphone. Smartphones are everywhere. Students WILL use their smartphones, whether for educational purposes or not. I believe that smartphones could be used in an educational way.

Our school district does not yet have one to one devices, but it probably has almost one to one smartphones. 

In the article "Using Smartphones in the Classroom" written by Edward Graham, a teacher, Ken Halla is quoted, saying "Not every classroom can get a laptop every day, so [devices like smartphones], even if you have to pair up, become something useful for teachers."

Phones are a distraction, and they can be a liability (social media), however if monitored well, have the potential to be a great classroom tool. Students can use their phones to work together on Google Docs or online apps. Students can research topics. Students can look up difficult words as they read. Students can Skype. Students can use Google Translate. The possibilities are endless.

This question honestly did change the way I view phones in the classroom. By talking to students, I realized that there really is a possibility of phones being a useful educational tool inside the classroom, not just for homework. In the last week, I have started suggesting that students use their phones to help them write their answers to discussion questions. I tell them they can use it to look in the book only, not the internet. The students are able to access a free version of the book, and use Control+F to find the quotes they wanted to cite. I had only one group use phones, because I was just experimenting, and not ready to manage a whole class of phone-users. the group with phones wrote more, and had more insightful comments than any of the other groups.

Reflection on the class:

I learned a lot in this class. For me, the most valuable aspects were the conversations. I already have a pretty strong understanding of technology, but this class taught me to question norms. Why do teachers use technology, or NOT use technology in certain situations. How can technology not just replace something, but completely revolutionize different aspects of education.

One tool I really learned about was Google Drive. I was aware of the tool, but I had a simplistic understanding of it. Using it every week, I feel way more comfortable with it and actually use it in my everyday life now. It was not something I had any interest in before, but now I use it multiple times per day. I almost do not know how to function as a teacher without it. 

I also learned a lot about Apps. I know a lot about the fun apps, but I never really researched educational apps until this class. I think it's really good to be aware of whats out there, to be able to talk to students about Apps that could potentially be helpful for their education.

I also started following education blogs through this class, and I started reading http://www.edutopia.org/ regularly and have found it to be helpful and thoughtful. 

My vision of technology has changed more than I thought it would. I learned to question a lot more, and I broadened my perspective through this class. My Dad is a Computer Science professor at UCSD and this class prompted quite a few conversations regarding technology in the classroom.

Before this class, I had never heard of "flipped classrooms" or blended learning. I think that was one of the most interesting days for me. I initially felt really strongly against flipped classrooms, but it has spurred me to continue researching and reading about it. There is a flipped classroom at DPHS, which I have observed. I still feel a little skeptical, but I'm starting to see the benefits more than I did. 

I also realized that there is no stopping technology. It's "easier" to ignore it and keep things the way they always have been, but technology is advancing, and it would be a disservice to not allow technology into the classroom. Students are not going to ignore technology, and we, as teachers, should use technology to reach our students, as well as give them the best educational experiences we can.

Data and Relationships

The high school that I am currently working at uses two separate digital systems for data management. The school uses both Aeries and EDU 2.0 as data management systems. 

EDU 2.0 is a new data management system that teachers are still getting used to. Teachers have access to online grading systems, rubric designers, classroom organizers, etc. The tool keeps academic information of students well organized and easily accessible. Teachers or administrators can login to EDU 2.0, search for a student and have their academic information and recent history instantly. Teachers can get a broader perspective on a students academic behaviors. 

Aeries is filled with a different type of information. Teachers can login to Aeries for attendance records, discipline or behavior issues, family information and background, medical history, test scores, interventions, etc. Teachers can use Aeries to gain a deeper and more insightful perspective on a student. 

The school I am at also still uses cumulative files for their students that can be accessed in a specific room and can be browsed through. 

In order to gain a more holistic understanding of my students, it would be interesting to see more of an academic history. In a world of technology, it would be interesting if student's work from previous classes could be accessed. If writing samples from years past could be seen, a more complete understanding of the evolution of the student's writing abilities could be attained. This would give me as a teacher a better idea of how far the student has come, and where his or her strengths and weaknesses are. 

It could also be helpful to know more about students and their lives. It would be helpful to know what they do outside of school, for example, do they have jobs, or are they involved in extracurriculars, etc. This poses a problem for me though. While it would be awesome to be able to click a button and just have all this information in front of me, that would delete a large part of human contact. As teachers, we want to be able to connect with our students and learn information about them. If we already knew all the information, there would be less need to seek out students to make those one on one connections. There would be less need to interact with our students in a non-academic context. 

Yet, there is also the argument that, as teachers, we have too many students to effectively make those one on one connections with. I don't have the answer, but I do know that it's important to get to know students and interact with them in more than just an academic setting. 

Individual Ipads for Students

I think it would be wonderful if all students were able to have a device in their classrooms. Of course, this adds a whole new level of classroom management, but I believe that the positive effects will drastically outweigh the negative, as long as the classroom teacher is able to maintain control over the technology being used.

The students we’re teaching are so tech savvy, they know how to use technology in ways that many teachers don’t. However, students should still be guided in their technology use by the teacher. The biggest issue that comes up with 1 to 1 device use is distraction. Students will be lured by all the possible distractions that come with being connected to the Internet.

As suggested by “For Teachers, Wired Classrooms Pose NewManagement Concerns” I think that making laps around the classroom is important. If students know they are being watched, then they are more likely to be on good behavior. The teacher can then walk around the room, answering questions and working with students one on one, while at the same time making sure students are on task.

In the Journalism class I was working in at SBJHS, many days the students were working individually with ipads to type up their articles or to do research. I walked around in that fashion to make sure students were on task and there were very few times that students were off task. The students felt ownership over their articles and over the fact that they were allowed to check out Ipads. I believe that allowing students to feel a sense of ownership over their work and over the way they do that work (on google drive, or on Word, or on paper) helps to lend a sense of responsibility to the classroom and to the individual students.

I think that with some classrooms, the desktop watching programs are a good solution. I would prefer not to use the program to watch all my students desktops because I would rather instill a sense of accountability and ownership for my students in the classroom. 

"The Innovative Educator" analysis

I am looking critically at the blog called The Innovative Educator. This blog is written by a public school educator named Lisa Nielson. She is a certified teacher and educational administrator. She is passionate about “learning in innovative ways that prepare students for real-world success”.

Her blog is filled with different types of posts. Some discuss questions, for example “Has Google replaced teaching?” The most valuable posts are the ones that offer practical, interesting ideas to be used in the classroom.

I would use her ideas. I don’t know if I would implement all of her ideas, but I would definitely try some out. She talks a lot about the pros and cons of using cell phones in the classroom, it seems to be a big topic for her blog. She has 162 articles that fall under the category “Cell Phones in Education.”

Not only does she have quite an array of different articles, she also seems to have a lot of experience in what she is writing about. Many of her guest bloggers are classroom teachers. This causes me to be more trusting in the advice and the ideas presented in The Innovative Educator.  

Technology tools: Do's and Dont's

Prompt: When should technology be used as a learning tool?

Technology should be used as a learning tool for:

• Cross-cultural communication
• Displaying graphics or videos that demonstrate a concept or help students visualize
• Group work that can be done from home (google docs, prezi)
• Parent-Teacher communication
• Posting homework and links online
• To expand the activities available to students (classroom google maps, literacy maps, creative writing online prompts)

Technology should NOT be used as a learning tool for:

• Think-write-pair-share
• Small group discussions
• To replace parent-teacher communication
• Close reading activities

Technology can be a wonderful tool if it supplements the concepts and lessons being taught or learned in the classroom. All too quickly, however, technology can turn into something distracting or even harmful. Technology opens up a whole new world in terms of communication. Students are able to use twitter, Skype, blogs, etc to connect and communicate with a much larger audience and gain broader and more complex perspectives.  But if used carelessly, technology becomes just another piece of noise distracting the students from learning. Or even worse, technology could take the place of essential aspects of learning.

 The way I differentiate what activities or tasks should and should not be used with technology depends on the relationship and the outcome. For example, while technology can be a wonderful tool to supplement parent-teacher communication, it should not replace face to face communication. While it's helpful for students to be able to work together on a google doc from their respective homes, in class, students should work together verbally and in person in order to gain the most insight into their topic, and also to learn important social skills and speaking and listening skills. Technology should never replace human interaction, it should be a means to enhance/elevate/expand a lesson or concept in the classroom. 

The Giver Assessment - Google Form