inner thoughts of a techno-educator…

Journal #5 – Technology in ESL Education

Descriptions of the happenings that have had influences on your learning process:
Since last I journaled, we worked on designing and implementing our webquest. It was a great learning experience as I tried to make a web quest that I could use in a class. The implementation was tough.

I realized that in many ways technology is still considered an extra or special at my school. I found this a little disheartening because in many of the conversations I’ve had with my advisory base and other students, they want to use technology to learn. I realized that a major part of integrating technology is about staff development. We need to stop looking at techonolgy as a toy, and look at how we can teach students to use technology in a serious results driven way.

I also realized that no matter how hard it can be to form a functional workgroup, it is worth it! I missed having teammates to bounce ideas off of and to give me fedback. After the intensely group centric nature of the first part of several of my classes this semester, it was a little weird going alone.

Personal feelings/reactions to the happenings:
I’m so excited to almost be done with this semester! I took 12 units and worked full-time, which was way to much! I’m lucky to have a wonderful spouse to support me, but I still feel very drained! I look forward to a summer off and just 6 more units to go before I graduate!

As always, it is a little sad to end a class. In many cases it is the last intereactions you may have with a multitude of incredible people.

Evaluation on your learning process:
I feel like I’m settled into my groove. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel and I’m ready to do everything I can to get their as soon as possible.

Overall, I don’t think that I learned as much as I had hoped about integrating techology specifically with ESL students, but I did learn a lot about working with ESL teachers. From that I can honestly say that I have a better understanding of what I need to do to support them in doing their job even better.

Journal #4 – Technology in ESL Education

Descriptions of the happenings that have had influences on your learning process
Building a webquest has been quite a learning experience. I have found that in many cases the best path is to take a look at webquests that I have found appealing and adapt them to my purposes. It seems that even in the 21st century, we teachers still need to beg and barrow good ideas from each other.

Personal feelings/reactions to the happenings
I’m a bit worried about getting volunteers to complete my webquest. Given that AIMS is this week and make-ups are next week, I’ve had very little interest in participating. I’ve asked my principal if I can give staff development hours to people that complete it, but I haven’t heard back from her yet. I’ll just have to keep my fingers crossed, and hope that my loyal tech seminar group will be willing to work together on the webquest.

Evaluation on your learning process
As a learning I am feeling a little overwhelmed at this moment. I have 12 units this semester and it seems like everything is due at the same time. In addition to school work, I have major projects at school that are drawing a lot of energy. I wish I had a better balance of school, work and life at this moment. The good news is that the semester is quickly winding to an end and so far so good in all of my classes.

Journal #3 – Technology in ESL Education

One of the major things that I have realized during this session, is that there is a huge divide between those who understand computers and technology, and those that don’t. Many of those in my group did not understand the any of the underlying technology that is needed for very simple activities such as posting a web page and it created a lot of fear and confusion. I was surprised that the negative reaction using technology can create.

This strange situation help me to realize just how important learning to use technology is for our K-12 students. While it is one thing for a professional with 20 years of experience to have some trouble using a computer, it is entirely unacceptable for a worker straight out of school to be missing these skills. To often the focus of school instruction has been on learning technology outside of any content area context and at a very rudimentary level. We need to focus on getting students into a more sophisticated level of technology use throughout the curriculum.

I also learned about making a group work. These webquest project took a lot out of me. I’ve never worked with a group that had so much trouble getting organized and started. At first, I was extremely frustrated and did not want to help out. Eventually, under pressure to not fail, I stepped up and took charge of the group. As I mentioned in my evaluation, this is not an uncomfortable role, but I don’t think that it helps the others in the group very much.

I actually, have reservations about doing group work. I have always found that group work is never an equitable activity, whether applied to adults or children. Unfortunately, I have always found that there are group members who do not pull their own weight or follow group guidelines. Traditionally, it is said that we all have to work with people like that sometimes, but in my experiences it is just not the case. If your organization has people that cannot follow guidelines and get projects done on time then it will fail or go bankrupt. For some reason, in education we like to pretend that this is a regular situation in the workplace, but I just don’t see it.

I think the may thing that I learned is that I should step up sooner than later.

Journal #2 – Technology in ESL Education

Descriptions of the happenings that have had influences on your learning process:
I’ve come to realize that I know very little about ESL, but many of the strategies that are common to all good instruction.

Personal feelings/reactions to the happenings:
I feel like I’m not getting the same thing that many of the other students are getting out of the readings. I just don’t feel like I’m the intended audience of many of the authors. I question some of the their basic assumptions about working with ESL/ELL students.

I’ll have to fill in more of the necessary background knowledge as the semester progresses. At least i won’t be bored.

Evaluation on your learning process:
An accomplishment is learning that I know very little about ESL/ELL. This will allow me to focus my efforts in the class, as the technological aspect id relatively easy for me.

I feel like our group project is off to a shaky start. My other group members do to seem particularly focused on getting this project done and are easily over whelmed by the technological aspects. It seems like many of them are having trouble determining the basic requirements of the project and what it will entail. I’m trying my best to be supportive and sympathetic, but several members are being very difficult when it comes to scheduling meeting times.

It is very difficult to work with a group of people that are predominantly new to online classes. It makes me wonder if I’m a very good team member, or if this class should be taken earlier in the ETC sequence.

Solutions and action plan:
I plan to keep working through the group project. I’ll do my best to support those group members that are willing to be helped. I’ve identified William as a great source for ESL/ELL related questions so I plan on using his insight to help me gain understanding of the ESL perspective.

Journal #1 – Technology in ESL Education

One of the things that I have immediately enjoyed about this class is the use of read/write web technologies. This has been a major step in my own understanding of how a teacher could use these technologies in the class. Additionally, as I have become more familiar with these new technologies I’ve realized that you can use them in a classroom if certain safeguards are used.

In particular, I’m enjoying the book by William Richardson. It is interesting to see that there are already so many resources available to educators that are interested in using these technologies in the classroom.

Using visual technologies such as Flickr and even more basic applications such as PowerPoint or Keynote fit very well with many ESL strategies. I do wonder if students freshly immigrated will have the technology skills to use these web and software applications. Additionally, I can’t help but wonder if some students will be threaten by the use of family and person photos and information.

At this point my only concern is my lack of specific ESL strategies. Fortunately, there seems to be an incredible wealth of resources for ESL on the web. I’ve begun to catalog these resources for my teachers at school and for my own benefit.

My major goal at this point is to identify some ESL Resources that will assist me in understanding the theory behind some of the activities that we are asked to do.

20/20 Hindsight Assignment

I started this course with the goal of finding ways to bring the average educator into the technology fold and to find effective models of technology implementation. For both of these goals I was successful.
In regards to the first goal, the needs assessment project had a profound effect on the way I thought about technology in the schools. The model that I had been accustomed to was the “build it and they will come approach”. As countless forum posts can attest, if you build it and don’t train people, it will be put in the back of the closet and collect dust.
The needs assessment project focused my attention on the poor job I have been doing in enabling my teachers to use the technology effectively in the classroom. As a result of the project and the website project I’ve begun a whole new approach to how staff development will be organized at our school. And using a modified version of the 12 step program from TTT, my newly formed tech team will become a critical link in the purchase and decision making process for instructional technology.
I’ve realized that educational technology is approaching the payoff that businesses had with technology. Unfortunately, schools as a system are much more dogmatic and resist change so the change will take a little longer. The point is the technology is mature and available so now all we need to do is get educators using what is available, and I’ll keep my eye on the future.
The second goal was a little tougher and is not so clear-cut in its’ completion. Partly this is because we are still learning how technology is best utilized in the classroom.  However, through conversations with other students, the readings, and research I’ve been able to piece together bits of what works well and what doesn’t work at all.
This second goal was a success, because I feel as though I have a great start, but it is also the first of many steps down the road to educational reform at my school. Using ideas, developed during the conversations and participation in this course, I’ve been able to have an impact on the direction of my schools success.

Journal Final Entry

What is going well in the course?
I have really enjoyed putting together a website dedicated to the things that I do for the school. The class project has morphed into Technology Team at my school and the development of a wole new system for looking at technology purchases. This course has given me the theoretical base for this early organizing effort. Our first mission is developing a technology plan for the school with a clear time timeline and goals.

What is not going well in the course?
It is getting towards the end of the class and you can feel it in the way people, myself included, are posting. Most messages are quite sterile and lack anything new. It seems like a lot of the classwork was on the front end of this class and that there isn’t much at the end.

I’m also still a little confused by the purpose of Taskstream. It is difficult because I understand that not everybody has the same access to technology that I do, but I hate having so many different place to post and maintain. I wish that their was a way to just have one central location for all of class data instead of it spread all over.

What are my frustrations?
My frustrations are with the course format. This is a topic that has come up in every private conversation that I have had with other students.

While the activities were well though out and useful, I feel that there was a lack of feedback from instructors and a lack of clear directions in the modules. I’m still not sure whether or not I’ve received credit for assignments written weeks ago. Additionally, no instructors have left a single comment in the forums. This is in stark contrast to the level of involvment and participation by instructors during the ETC 547 class. This may have been intentional, but I think it hurt the overall feel of the course for me.

In some cases, the module directions and the calendar have conflicting or confusing assignements. This final journal entry for example. Were we supposed to do one final journal entry using the regular format, or should we have just sent in the 20/20 hindsight assignment as the final journal entry.

Of course it could also be that I just didn’t read the directions very carefully.

What are my accomplishments?
I’m really excited about my class website! I think that it offers a truly valuable resource for my school and possibly our school district. By developing the site in a blog, I think that I’l be able to continue adding value to it as a resource and allow other interested teachers  a chance to be part of the development of the resource.

My life as an online learner…
It feels pretty old hat at this point. I cannot wait to have all online classes again in the Spring. I had to F2F classes this semester and it has been a real killer!

While online classes have their own unique set of hurdles, I’d take them any day.

Week #3 Journal

What is going well in the course?
I really enjoyed learning about Elluminate. After each session I felt as though I had an even better grasp on a new cutting edge technology. As I continue to plan with the application, I can’t help but imagine what this softeware coud do for distance education and training.

What is not going well in the course?
I feel as though our Flatteners project was more of a presentation than discussion. It was really hard fo me to come up with good questions about the book. It seems as though the book is pretty much taken as gospel so I had a hard time finding fault or critism of it.

What are my frustrations?
I’m feeling very frustrated by the unclear expectations of the class. While I can appreciate the Mushroom Management nature of the program, I think there needs to be a clearer understanding of what we are expected to do and how Vista is actually to operate.

For example the turnitin program we are using. We’re supposed to turn a spreadsheet, which cannot be done with turnitin. It seems that not everything in the course has been very thought out.

What are my accomplishments?
Now I feel like I can use Elluminate. Our group’s presentation took advantage of many of the programs features and I’m proud that many people have asked us for help in their Elluminate discussions.

My life as an online learner…
I am feeling like a producer of online knowledge. Several people have commented on how they wait for my responses on a topic and I feel like our Elluminate discussion was a greeat success.

Week #2 Reflections

What is going well in the course?
I am still enjoying the level of intelligent conversation present on our forums. This class has some very thoughtful individuals that are challenging some of my views, and really making me think.

What is not going well in the course?
I still feel like not everything in the course has been finshed well. There are missing or hidden hyperlinks to various course components. I get the feeling that the course was written by multiple people and that not everybody was on the same page, as on how things where going to be presented. There also seems to be a lot of repetition in the course. Why would we want or need to publish a blog journal and then go back and republish things in taskstream? It just doesn’t make sense to have so many different means of presenting the same thing.

What are my frustrations?
I dislike the complete lack of instructor involvement in the class so far. The only message I have recieved from an instructor was to inform me that my group was no longer whole, and that I really needed to figure out what to do about it. I don’t see any facilitation of the material or helpful feedback at this point.

As a learner this may be because I’ve been trained to desire instructor approval, but I also feel that the instructors are not part of the learning community. They are just handing down assignments from upon high and watching what is done. I feel as removed from the instructors of this class, as I would in an auditorium class where I never talked to the instructor.

What are my accomplishments?
Right now, I don’t really feel like I’ve had many. There has been some interesting articles to read because of my research paper. There has been a couple of good forum discussions. But other than that I haven’t really felt much for this class yet.

My life as an online learner…
I feel very comfortable with the tools that we use in this class, and I get really bothered by small inconsistencies in course frameworks. I think that I’m starting to realize that online learning in itself is not my favorite way of learning. Even though I am far less interested in the content of a p2p class, I enjoy all of the non-verbal communication that occurs during heated conversations. There is really something to be said about sychronous converstation were you can see the people in the discussion.