Productivity

Among the most challenging of topics for the IB Environmental Systems and Societies students to fully understand is productivity--a measure of the rate at which photosynthesis converts sunlight energy to a chemical form that organisms on earth can use.

After guiding the students through this concept, I will have students relate all they knew about productivity to this image. I expected they would see:
1) there is a lot of green biomass
2) the water is green-photosynthesis is occuring there
3) the birds in the air get energy by eating organisms which get energy from photosynthesis
4) the 'smoke' in the air relates to carbon dioxide which is used for photosynthesis
5) some plants are dead (brown colored)-dry biomass
6) some plants are reddish
7) wood biomass feeds termites
8) fungi decompose all the forest biomass for their energy

Creative Commons image from Tangent~Artifact, here sometimes :)

What made you look here?

The difference is now technology is the first, current, and definitive resource for topics I present or enjoy at home or school.

You Tube contains music (including songs in German that my mother loved when she was young), old movie (Star Trek, Red Skeleton,..), poetry (Poe, Frost, Longfellow), history, science (New Scientist, Brainiacs, about animals) that I use for entertainment, contacts I correspond with now about common hobbies, and the primary source for helping my kids at home (Google Earth, Free Typing, musiceducation, choice words).

How I prepare for my classes is the biggest change in my IT use. I become less inhibited by not knowing and more pro-active in trying out resources I believe will help my students learn: excited about PantherNet, its chat capabilities, the links to TurnItIn.com, and abundance of relevant animations, and the potential of Google forms and Google doc.

But mostly I am more critical of what to use. If a function, site, or program is cumbersome, lacks precision, or out-of-date, I am much more likely to not struggle with is and pass it over for a resource at another site.

The digital aspects of technology are among my weaknesses and I have been looking forward to this course the most of all of them. I hope to learn enough to take risks in bringing a lot more video clips (and maybe even making some), podcasts?, animations, and probably still images into my presentations by taking this course. Maybe I’ll even digitalize some of my important old VHS material.

In addition, I like the dialogue about the look of various web sites (and their advertizements). What made you look here?

Creative Commons image taken on 5 September 2005 by n0nick / Sagie Maoz

Final project reflections

For my final project I wanted to do something that was directly related to helping student learning. I made a wiki site that allowed them access to class information via the Internet, but that was done with the skills from the first course. I had heard of Goggle forms and wondered if I could use that program to effectively check student learning during class time.

The concept I wanted was a little advanced from the “clicker” technology talked about at the EARCOS conference (and reviewed here at ISB in 2005). That technology allows the teacher to see students’ selections of four multiple choices; basically an immediate assessment of students using a multiple choice question format. But I wanted a avenue to assess students with a variety of questions and not be limited to multiple choice, which could leave me believing a student understood a concept if they guessed the right choice.

Google forms allows such a technology. Multiple choice (even the option of “Other” with a more extensive answer), long answers, and surveys are all possible.

My first attempt was to have students select a choice of the direction they would like the course to proceed: review, hydrosphere, discuss IB Exam formats for a mock exam…. By having the students log onto the form site, students were forced to make a decision of their own before being swayed by the most verbal or dominant individuals in the class. The results were encouraging because the quiet student expressed an opinion that was different from the rest of the class. So the schedule was made with her opinions included.

My second attempt was to use the form to assess student understanding of information we had just covered in the class. Some questions were short answer fill-in-the-blank and some were multiple choice. The class has a number of ESL (English as a Second Language) students who are very quiet, so it is difficult to just their understanding during class discussions.

This form had the advantage of requiring every student to commit to an answer, even if they did not understand the concept. In one of the classes, it was obvious that all students understood two of the concepts completely, so we didn’t review those topics any more. In another class the answers showed misconceptions in definitions, mix-ups in terms, but no students who completely “didn’t get it”.

This form of assessment has the potential of being used for a paperless test. If one can get graphs and images to the students and the test can have all answers in the form of multiple choice, short answer essay, and fill-in-the-blank, those questions could be completed by students using the form application.

Two problems exist with the form application for now. It is free and public, so any questions posted on it are available for all to see. So once a test is given, students would be able to find those questions and pass the URL on to other classes who have not taken the test yet. This can be alleviated by giving another test to another class or posting the questions just before the test is given.

Google uses the host country location to determine the default language for the buttons and tool bars within the site. I have not been able to get around this setting, so students have to be instructed to click on the two-character Thai button at the bottom of the site when they are done with the page.

Having a template, questions can be uploaded quickly, the site can generate accurate information quickly, the teacher can learn of common misconceptions and help the entire class or learn of individual needs and address them with individual students or small groups. Best of all, when students understand a concept, the teacher can move on to the next topic. If the students already understand a unit (or part of it) before the teacher begins it, the teacher can move on to extension material, quicker assessment, or the next unit.

Success--mass collaboration?

During this second COETAIL course, I expanded my research of blogs and the Internet for my hobby of family history as I discussed in a previous blog. Via a blog posting I just "met" another researcher who just came back from my mother's lineage's ancestral home village in the 1600s. The researcher had discovered a missing link in our lineage and I was able to learn about it from the other side of the globe by just writing like I am doing now. A few people working together on a common project like a genealogy search could be considered mass collaboration. A useful produce is produced by many that would be unlikely done by a few.

Are we preparing students for a future of mass collaboration?

No, the school focusses students on achieving locally and individually (often in preparation for an IB curriculum) and in small groups. For schook, students go to their classes, then their activities, then gather in groups or individually and do their homework. This part of their lives is not an example of mass collaboration.

What goes on outside of school and may matter more in their lives, what challenges them and motivates them, is often related to the digital world. Students are on their cell phones as soon as they are out of class. They are combatting in the World of Warcraft before they think about homework, and they are deciphering their class notes and teacher expectations by cell phone when they do get down to homework. But these are not preparing them for mass collaboration.

As I see it, mass collaboration involves the responsible contribution to the growth of a societal system. The development of edible grains from wild grasses to the formation of a CreativeCommons concept would be included in mass collaborative efforts. I fear (probably not unlike my parents when I was in high school) the youth are learning how to collaborate as users, rather than creaters, of products.

But maybe the World of Warcraft is giving these youth not only the exposure to working in teams toward a common goal, but the strategies to effectively size up team members' collaborative skills, trustworthiness, and responsible behaviors in real life simulations. Students learn from mistakes they make on their profile or sharing with "friends" on Facebook. Students communicate with efficiency when they text message. The digital contacts they make worldwide by blogging, tweeting, and sharing of music and images gives them contacts that may be the most important individuals in their future university success, job placement, or mate selection. We cannot know which of these actions today will lead to having an advantage in tomorrow's society. These skills my give students an advantage, but no matter what, "we" are not preparing the students for this future by what we do in our classes.

But are we preparing them for mass collaboration by raising them in the Eastern culture instead of the West? Whereas, the West is know for its focus on the individual, the East is known for its community orientation.

Digital impact

Digital impact

The Coetail (Certificate of Educational Technology and Information Literacy) course clarifies a variety of dangers in using, submitting, and reproducing information that is freely available digitally. Students analyze acceptable use policies, copyrights, fair use, special considerations for use in education, and one’s digital footprint.

Every posting of music, voice, blog, picture, tweet, or email leaves a trail back to the one who posted it. Some of these trails are good. It is convention to give credit to the author of a copied picture when using it. Some trails to one’s computer are less than desirable. These trails and the long term consequences of the postings are included in a concept known as one’s “digital footprint”.

Seems to me the use of “footprint” stems from what one leaves behind from one’s presence at a location. If one walks on a beach, another can see the impression left in the sand. When one burns fossil fuels, an increase in atmospheric carbon is part of what ‘one leaves behind’. When one visits the internet, there is a trail, but little impact. But what one ‘leaves behind’ when one submits a post to the Internet is bigger than a footprint; it’s impression is more like stepping into and rippling the water, rather than just marking the sand, at the beach. One’s footprint is still left in the sand below the water, but it’s the ripples or wave made in the water that spread around and impact the world. It might be more appropriate to refer the ‘what one leaves behind’ as one’s digital impact.

It is this digital impact one needs to be aware of before clicking the mouse on ‘Send’ or hitting the ‘Return’ key when interacting digitally. One might want to consider the digital environment and assess the consequences of the action on the digital environment and conduct a quick digital impact assessment before clicking the button.

To ascertain if a digital submission is wise, a digital impact assessment could include the quick answering of a few questions:

1) Will this action be traced back to me at any time in the future? No matter what the digital user thinks, the answer to this should always be considered “Yes”. The security of anonymous surveys, encrypted transactions, and the information we have on our personal computers are already challenged.

2) Is this digital environment safe? Sending an email to a select group of ‘friends’, conducting a financial transaction via the internet, and even viewing internet sites from a cyber café computer are not safe. Your boss can read your emails, credit card information has been stolen from the Internet, and porn sites are traced back to their observers.

3) Would I mind my mother or the reviewer of your next job application seeing this?

4) Am I comfortable leaving this action public for the rest of my life? That’s how long it will be available for viewing by others.

5) Have I given credit to the originator of any images or ideas I am including in my submission?

6) What am I creating? Is this action the monster, lion in waiting, inconsequential blah-g, or seed of a new idea for which it is intended?

7) How could this action come back to bite me? What might be politically correct, convention, acceptable, or the fashion at this time, might be taboo soon. The action should leave a “feel right”-ness about it.

Much of the discussion of the course focuses on the restrictions of internet use. The heart of the real value of the Internet, creating new knowledge and increasing the quality of life, should be a main consideration. Criticism of another’s actions without suggesting improvements and writing one’s train-of-thought have less positive impact for our future than a creating of something new. So the intended impact can be in the answer to:

8) What value am I adding to life?

I hope that this post is a forward movement. I welcome comments and criticisms.

Who did it?

Who's responsibility is it to teach students to be safe online?

The youth of today are more tech savvy and connected than any previous generation. But unlike many other skills they develop, their elders are seldom their mentors or teachers in developing their tech skills. One of the consequences of that is there is seldom the regulation, critique, and guidance that the gardening generation felt is necessary before the youth get behind the keyboard and start driving their computers around the cyberworld. Some of these youth are aware of the dangers, some ignore them, and some are ignorant of the consequences of cyber activity that is not restricted.

The question of “who is responsible” is a very Western question. Why are kids fat? Why are there unwanted pregnancies? Why tooth decay, bad posture, plagiarism, …? Some societies are quick to turn to teachers and request a quick fix to the growing problems. Teachers probably know more about technologies, both parents are probably working and don’t have the time to monitor their children’s activities when domestic chores await, and computer-related activities frequently are associated with education.

Students do need to know how to use technological tools to further their understanding, communication, and education. Their culture also assumes literacy in the variety of tech services that are available. For these teachers rightfully should be knowledgeable and skilled at using the technologies when they are the best avenues for assisting student learning. Teachers help students avoid plagiarism, create tech products as class projects, use tech tools for analysis, and critique information found on the Internet.

While it sounds like a logical progression that teachers are also responsible for teaching students to be safe online, the links of these safety issues related to student learning in the various subjects is not as direct. Some questions arise from the “Who is responsible for teaching students cyber safety?” issue:

1) Where in a school’s curriculum would this be taught?
2) Who would be responsible for developing the curriculum?
3) How would the appropriate staff be trained to prepare and be kept up to speed in the variety of technology safety issues?
4) When would this training occur for resident students in the school and when would new students to the school be given this orientation?
5) Would something that is already a student requirement (of time, energy, stress, and scheduling) be dropped so this curriculum could be included, or would time be taken out of a schedule that is already undersubscribed for classes?

In spite of all of this discussion, schools are responsible to giving students a safe and healthy environment for learning. All teachers are media teachers, so all of us are responsible to learn about cyber safety and use it at teachable moments in our presentations, lessons, and assessment criteria. In addition, schools need to instruct the youth about the school’s acceptable use policy (AUP) and include concepts like cyberbullying, inappropriate sharing of password and personal information, and profile hijacking and pirating.

The “responsibility” task is only completed when parents have taken on their part. They , too, need to be educated, take on their share of monitoring, guiding, and screening of student cyber use, and understand that it is not the school’s responsibility when students access inappropriate sites, become addicted to cyber gaming or social networking, exhibit other behaviors that are not part of a healthy, balanced young adult life. The school provides instruction and opportunities for learning, but is not the scapegoat for the reason students deviate from the information the school provides.

It will be a challenge to determine where the line will be drawn between society and governments restrictions and responsibilities, parent’s responsibilities, and school’s responsibilities for students’ online safety.