Sara+Woodard

= Emerging & Innovative Technologies in Education =
 * Sara Woodard **
 *  FNDS 6170: Advanced Educational Psychology Fall 2009 **



Introduction Today, we recognize that classroom teachers are more than instructors. We are facilitators of student learning and curriculum designers. We make decisions about how curriculum is implemented in our classrooms and how to structure activities in hopes that they will reach students.These decisions impact our students’ experiences. Along with the onset of the Conceptual Age comes a generation inundated with technology (Pink 49). Video games, Twitter, Texting, Instant Messaging, IPods and Facebook are all forms technology that the 21st Century Learner engages in every day. 

 

Students today have an expectation to create with technology because this is the way that they learn. It is our job, as facilitators and curriculum designers to make this possible.We must teach these students to think, create, analyze, evaluate and apply. It is the vision of 21st Century Learning that students will use "engaging technologies in collaborative inquiry based learning environments with teachers who are willing and able to use technology’s power to assist them in transforming knowledge and skills into products, solutions and new information” (//A Vision of K-12 Students Today)//.    

 How will WE engage our students?  

In Daniel Pink's //A Whole New Mind, Pink has recognized that the future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind. The era of “left brain” dominance and the Information Age are giving way to a new world in which “right brain” qualities of creativity and inventiveness predominate. The book essentially uses the two sides of the brain as a metaphor for understanding the ages in which we have lived and live in now. Pink reveals six essential aptitudes on which fulfillment and professional success depend. These ideas, along with the technology of the 21st century, change not only //how we see the world but how we will experience it. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 108%;">I have chosen six emerging and innovative technologies as examples to explain how we can engage 21st Century Learners in our classrooms today: <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">

1. Skype 2. Voicethread 3. Dabbleboard 4. MakeBeliefsComix 5. Edublog 6. Jing

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 108%;">It is extremely important that we, as teachers, are both willing AND able to learn about and implement these emerging technologies. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">

Intel Education (2008). //Intel® Teach Program (Thinking with Technology Course, Version 2.5)//. online: Intel Education. Pink, D.H. (2006). //A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future//. New York: Berkley Publishing Group. //YouTube: A Vision of K-12 Students Today//. (2007). Retrieved September 30, 2009, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_A-ZVCjfWf8

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 108%;">A chronically ill student joins real classroom discussions from his bedroom at home. A classroom in Alabama interviews a scholar in France. A teacher studying abroad checks in with colleagues back home. All of these scenarios are possible through videoconferencing with Skype. Until Skype, all of this meant money and equipment many schools and districts cannot afford. Skype is a free software program that allows anyone to videoconference or talk to anyone else in the world over the Internet for free. Just imagine what you and your class could do with such easy and free access to the rest of the world. The sky is the limit. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 108%;">Videoconferencing programs like Skype are supported by constructivist theories of learning. Constructivism is based on two central ideas. Learners are active in constructing their own knowledge and Social interactions are important in this knowledge and construction process. By using programs like Skype, students are active in their learning process. Students are able to learn in a realistic environment while using relevant cultural tools (Woolfolk 310). Many students might even argue that videoconferencing with a class or scholar in another country is one of the most powerful experiences for them. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 108%;">Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory also manifests itself within videoconferencing programs like Skype. This theory emphasizes that cooperative dialogues between children and more knowledgeable members of society plays a large role in development (Woolfolk 42). Students will learn the culture of their community and other communities through videoconferencing interactions. I n Pink’s text, he states that in order to thrive, students must engage in learning experiences that help them understand others and appreciate the world they live in. With programs like Skype, students are able to engage in these experiences by interacting with people from other cultures. These people may be students like them or more knowledgeable scholars. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px; text-align: center;">So, why use Skype in MY classroom? <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 17px; line-height: 25px;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 117%; text-align: center;">I believe that Skype is a very important technology tool for my future classroom. I plan to be a Visual Arts teacher and I believe that Skype offers so much when dealing with the arts. With the abilities of videoconferencing, I will be able to contact Museums around the world in order to have students interact with art historians and curators. Students could even show scholars their own work for feedback and critique. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">// 50 Awesome Ways to Use Skype in the Classroom: TeachingDegree.org. // (2009) // . // Retrieved September 30, 2009, fro//m// <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-align: left;"> //<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 80%; text-align: left;">[| http://www.teachingdegree.org/2009/06/30/50-awesome-ways-to-use-skype-in-the-classroom/] <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 9.9pt; font-style: normal; line-height: 25px; text-align: left;"> // Pink, D.H. (2006). //A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future//. New York: Berkley Publishing Group. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 8.91pt; text-align: left;">Woolfolk, A. E. (2010).//Educational Psychology// (11th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.  <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 8.91pt; text-align: left;">

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10.8pt; font-style: normal;">The world is becoming smaller due to more advanced technology, but to students, the world is often still limited in the classroom. What if there was a program that allowed students to create and share not only with classmates, but also with people all around the world? VoiceThread is a technology that makes this possible.VoiceThread is a convenient, simple, interactive, digital storytelling tool. Individuals can create a VoiceThread containing pictures and narration, which can then be commented by others."Teachers and students are using VoiceThread as a storytelling tool, a deep thinking tool, a research tool, an expository communication tool, and even an assessment tool" (Dyck).VoiceThread has brought storytelling up to par with the 21st century learner and allows stories to be shared around the world.Through the use of comments, VoiceThread creates an interactive environment in which individuals can share common interests and ideas. It can also be used as an assessment tool in the classroom for examining students’ opinions. Teachers can also use VoiceThread effectively as an assessment tool to see if students understand key concepts. Digital storytelling devices, like VoiceThread, allow students who may not like to participate in class discussion feel more comfortable with sharing their ideas and eliminate much of the social pressure associated with the classroom. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; font-style: normal;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10.8pt; font-style: normal;">

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14.3px; font-style: normal;">In Bloom's Taxonomy, evaluation is the highest form of learning. This deals with both creation and making judgments. Digital Storytelling devices like VoiceThread implement Bloom’s findings by allowing students to create stories. With VoiceThread, students are able to make their own judgments of images and articulate their thoughts freely and easily.



Dale’s Cone of Experience is evident in the program VoiceThread, which can prove its usefulness in the classroom. Dale’s Cone explains that people generally retain more information by actually DOING or creating. By using a program like VoiceThread, students will, again, be able to retain more information than merely listening to a lecture.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; font-style: normal;">VoiceThread also exemplifies a part of Pink’s six essential senses in //A Whole New Mind//. The second concept Pink explains in his book is story. “Stories are easier to remember-because in many ways, stories are how we remember" (Pink 101). <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10.8pt; font-style: normal;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10.8pt; font-style: normal;">Digital Storytelling devices like VoiceThread help students remember key information in this manner. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 14.4pt; font-style: normal; text-align: center;">How will I use VoiceThread in MY classroom?

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10.8pt; font-style: normal; text-align: center;">I am excited to use VoiceThread in my future Visual Arts classroom. Students will be able to comment on a VoiceThread about a particular piece of art we are studying or even critique each others’ work. They would be able to respond to particular questions I have asked about artwork or give their overall impressions since critique or judgment is an important part of viewing art. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-align: center;">

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Pink, D.H. (2006). //A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future//. New York: Berkley Publishing Group. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 8.91pt; text-align: left;">Woolfolk, A. E. (2010). //Educational Psychology// (11th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; text-align: left;"> Dyck, B. (2007).//VoiceThread: Capturing and Sharing Student Voice with an Online Twist. EducationWorld.com.// Retrieved 30 September, 2009, from http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/columnists/dyck/dyck019.html



<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">MakeBeliefsComix is an online educational comic generator. By using information and communication technologies to stimulate creativity and make learning fun, students can create new ideas and communicate through art and writing. The online comic strip encourages students to improve language, reading, and creative skills. On the website, students can create their own comic strips by selecting animal or human characters, each of which shows distinct emotions. By writing words for blank talk and thought balloons to make their characters talk and think. There are also story ideas and prompts to help students create graphic stories. Once students have created their comics, they can print them. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;">MakeBeliefsComix is built on the premise that learning happens through imaginative play. This type of learning is supported by both Maria Montessori and Daniel Pink’s views of play as a form of learning. Maria Montessori once noted that “Play is children’s work”. The brain develops with stimulation and play provides some of that stimulation at every age (Woolfolk 79). Daniel Pink supports play as a form of learning in his six essential concepts. He explains how there has been a shift, during the Conceptual Age, from seriousness to play as a measure of ability. He writes, “When you are playful, you are activating the right side of your brain. The logical brain is a limited brain. The right side is unlimited. You can be anything you want” (Pink 186).



<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: center;">How will I use MakeBeliefsComix in MY classroom?

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">I plan to use MakeBeliefsComix in my classroom in order to break up the monotony of rigorous coursework. Through this website, I believe that teachers are able to assess learning and gain background knowledge of what has been learned while the students are having fun explaining their views on a specific topic. MakeBeliefsComix appeals to the visual, kinesthetic and tactile learners, which is an important reason why its use would be great to use in an art classroom setting.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Pink, D.H. (2006). //A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future//. New York: Berkley Publishing Group. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 8.91pt; text-align: left;">Woolfolk, A. E. (2009). //Educational Psychology// (11th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; text-align: left;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Edublogs offers a great program for adding the power of technology to lessons. It allows teachers to post messages that aid students and enhance their learning. Teachers and students can also share posts with other educators and other students around the world. In addition, teachers can organize blogs to help provide differentiated lessons for students. Lessons essentially become interactive. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 108%;">The program, Edublogs, exhibits Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences in that it is flexible and allows each student to create in the way that he or she would like to create. Students are able to edit the look of the blog, add pictures, write their thoughts or feelings on a particular part of a lesson, or comment on other students’ thoughts. Gardner explains in his theory that different students are stronger in different approaches. The eight intelligences in multiple intelligence theory are linguistic, musical, spatial logical-mathematical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. The best way for one student to learn might be completely different from the way another student learns information (Woolfolk 115). Edublogs conveniently aids to many types of learning. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 132%; text-align: center;">Why would I want to use EduBlogs in MY classroom? <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 108%; text-align: center;">EduBlogs is a perfect program for me to use in my art classroom because it is important to journal throughout the creation of a piece. Students will be able to document the process of their work for better understanding and even showcase their work to others. Students will be able to comment and critique each other's work. I, as the instructor, can also create my own EduBlog outlining assignments for the unit or even the school year. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 8.91pt; text-align: left;">Woolfolk, A. E. (2010). //Educational Psychology// (11th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: left;">

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: right;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: right;">Dabbleboard, an online whiteboard application, brings its own features to heightening the common whiteboard. Essentially, it is a ‘thinking’ whiteboard. The board’s intelligence comes from the flexible way the application understands the basic shapes of our drawings, and, with a click, turns them into smooth lines and shapes. With Dabbleboard, students are able to draw freehand, draw shapes or just write text. Previous drawings made by students can be saved, and images created by other users can be borrowed from a public library. Drawing everything from an organizational chart to a mind map is made simple with Dabbleboard.

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<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 105.3%;">Mind maps, graphic organizers, and concept maps are all wonderful tools to use in the classroom. By creating mind maps and organizers on Dabbleboard, students are able to have a visual format, or support, to organize their thoughts while looking for main ideas.

Pink’s concept of Symphony is evident within the program, Dabbleboard. With mind mapping programs like Dabbleboard, students are able to put pieces together and see the big picture. Pink, himself, even explains the six senses by way of a mind map in his book //A Whole New Mind.// <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 81%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; font-style: normal;"> In his mind map, you are able to identify the main idea clearly and easily.



<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Another concept that proves the point of Dabbleboard is Constructivism. Constructivism is a broad term used by curriculum designers with a “view that emphasizes the active role of the learner in building, understanding and making sense of information” (Woolfolk 310). By using Dabbleboard, students are able to be active learners while building information in order to make sense of it. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: center;">Why use Dabbleboard in MY classroom?

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: left;">Dabbleboard is perfect for Art curriculum in that it allows for endless creativity. In my future classroom, I plan to have students create mind maps to brainstorm ideas. I also plan on creating my own mind maps through Dabbleboard to give a better explanation of Art History to students. Mind maps will give students the big picture while explaining important main ideas that go along with it.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Pink, D.H. (2006). //A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future//. New York: Berkley Publishing Group. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 8.91pt; text-align: left;">Woolfolk, A. E. (2010). //Educational Psychology// (11th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 140%; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video has to be worth at least a million. When a student asks how to do something why not create a quick Jing video? Jing is a program that captures and shares images and video from your computer. While you are in the process of actually creating the video, you are able to record audio and capture stills of content on your computer screen. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 130%; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Jing implements one of the earliest explanations of learning, Aristotle’s principle of contiguity. This principle states that whenever two or more sensations occur together often enough, they will become associated. Jing brings an association of lecture and video together simultaneously. By doing this, students are able to grasp concepts that they would not be able to grasp by lecture alone.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">Jing also employs ideas about learning styles and preferences. Some ideas about learning styles state that visual learners prefer instruction using pictures while verbal learners prefer instruction using words. When working with students in a classroom setting, there are literally hundreds of ways to think about individual differences in styles that might affect learning. There are way too many distinctions to assess and accommodate in teaching. Jing is a program which will support most learning styles. If students are confused about instructions, Jing gives both verbal AND visual instruction to help students grasp concepts. <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 144%; text-align: center;">How do I plan to use Jing in MY classroom? <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 132%; text-align: center;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">I believe strongly that assessment, aside from actual art projects, is an important part of the art classroom. At the end of each unit in my future classroom I plan to have students create a blog or online journal of their favorite art medium's process. I plan to create a Jing video covering all aspects of this blog assignment. I believe that if I create a Jing video for this assessment, there will be fewer questions and fewer students who feel lost in the process. <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 8.91pt; text-align: left;">Woolfolk, A. E. (2010). //Educational Psychology// (11th ed.). Pearson Education, Inc.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 161%; text-align: center;">CONCLUSION As curriculum designers, we must encourage our 21st Century Learners to:  <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 156.2%;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%; text-align: center;">We must engage our students by using the language of today, TECHNOLOGY! <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 13.2pt;"> <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">It is the vision of 21st century learning that all educators will become willing and able to use technology’s power in order to assist in transforming knowledge into real life solutions.
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">think
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">create
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> analyze
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> evaluate
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;"> and apply.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif; font-size: 220%; text-align: center;">Are you willing?