public service announcement on toddler water safety
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Integrated Technology Podcast
Technology Integration Podcast
From: cmites, 2 hours ago
Ites podcast for Hargrave CI 501
SlideShare Link
Friday, July 11, 2008
Does the Global Village Have an Idiot Too?
The phrase "global village" has been used in the last few decades to impart the idea of technology working as an equalizing force around the globe. As cell phones, computers, interactive media, and satellite communications have evolved, this equalization has had set-backs not considered or foreseen by many in the developed world. The cultures of more traditional societies are often not set up to accept this vast new set of knowledge and skills, resulting in conflicts new or buried within those cultures. In the article "Do We Really Want a Global Village?" author Stephen Talbott addresses and elaborates on these ideas with the foundational belief that technology should start with the local culture, learning to live in and adapt to its' norms, and then help development occur from within the cultural matrix itself, to avoid destroying the beauty of the culture.
There are numerous examples of how technology caused more headaches than it solves. For class we watched the beginning of the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy and were shown how the emergence of a technology not requested by a native peoples (Bushmen of the Kalahari) distrupts the very fabric of the society. The rest of the film (which we did not view for class) revolves around this idea of native vs. developed societies, with a white researcher who has learned to live in harmony with the native peoples struggling to win the heart of a woman who is still deeply entrenched in the developed world, and with the Bushman's odyssey to return the technology to the gods while being exposed to many developed technologies.
In the articles for class dealing with moral obligations to developed countries, the ecological impact of evolving technologies was directly addressed (Nichols article). Within the past two years, knowledge and concern about harmful and toxic wastes from used electronics have been brought to the forefront of the public debate through articles in TIME, National Geographic, and Newsweek. With growing fuel costs and the drastic changes in localized and global weather patterns, going "green" has become not just a focus but also a positive emotional ad campaign. People world-wide are beginning to look at their carbon footprint and to make companies who create the goods they purchase do the same. The idea of waste is even prevalent in the Gods / Crazy movie: the forced technology acquisition was a glass Coca-Cola bottle thrown out the window of a prop plane as trash, representing the oftentimes negative ecological impact of developing technologies.
Talbott's article stressed the importance of working with native cultures to establish development systems for technology. This sounds great on paper, but the idea is often not accepted by developed cultures. From the banning of Greek and Roman technologies in the Dark Ages to the novel Heart of Darkness and its film interpretation Apocalypse Now, many in power in developed cultures have an innate distrust of native societies who do not have hierarchical power structures. Those who have gained power by controlling or benefiting from evolving technologies fear societies where this type of power is minimized or non-existent; it strikes at the very heart of the power-broker's elite place in developed society.
When a society begins to become dependent on technologies, they seem to loose the ability to adapt to their culture and ecology and instead attempt to control it. A good example would be world-wide water use. Moving bodies of water (rivers and streams) do not run straight and naturally go through cycles of flood and drought. As humanity develops technology for food production and transportation, it wishes to continually improve. To best accomplish this result, the rivers need to be straightened and dammed, their wetlands drained, and channels cut in for irrigation. Water for consumption and waste removal has gone through cycles of failure and success based on human location and population size. Humans have even controlled water underground, mining aquifers for water with little to no consideration of its effect on the basic structure of Earth's crust. All these changes are seen as good until the ecosystem(s) become so imbalanced that they cause a change in the environment of humanity; when this happens, societies will mobilize to again change nature to what will benefit them most, even if it means nature's original state.
The idea of a global village is a positive one if the implementation of introduced technologies takes into account the native peoples, ecosystems, and cultures they are intended to benefit. A paradigm shift in benefactor power will also be necessary, an area which may prevent the idea from every truly coming to fruition. Developed countries need to stop viewing developing countries with a paternalistic "work in progress" mentality, but instead view those developing cultures as equal residents on this planet who may or may not wish to participate in developed countries' technological gains. Developed countries need to accept the decisions of native cultures and not force technologies on these peoples "for their own good."
The global village affects the K-12 classroom as the world flattens. Immigration (often based on war or need) is evident throughout America, with inner-city schools experiencing dramatic changes in acculturation and learning while trying to deal with persistent poverty and extensive bureaucracy. The idea of teachers being the "heart of society" by giving students pure knowledge as well as life skills is wonderful, but often becomes messy when dealing with students' home lives, lack of funding, and mandated testing. Developed countries need to learn how to work through these problems before trying to "start over fresh" by establishing education systems in less-developed countries. These problems are overwhelming in developed countries; they could bring a developing nation to its knees.
The emotional idea of the global village is an essential component of K-12 classrooms. Our students must have a deep and broad understanding of cultures throughout the world in order to function as literate, competent, motivated and involved members in the society of their future. This job rests not just on education through the schools but on media: students need to be shown what is beyond the white ethnocentric traditional culture of America and how it can and will impact their lives. Evolving technologies, usually involving various forms of media, are currently the best way to connect students with these ideas, and keeping them engaged will ensure their vested interest in the outcome.
There are numerous examples of how technology caused more headaches than it solves. For class we watched the beginning of the movie The Gods Must Be Crazy and were shown how the emergence of a technology not requested by a native peoples (Bushmen of the Kalahari) distrupts the very fabric of the society. The rest of the film (which we did not view for class) revolves around this idea of native vs. developed societies, with a white researcher who has learned to live in harmony with the native peoples struggling to win the heart of a woman who is still deeply entrenched in the developed world, and with the Bushman's odyssey to return the technology to the gods while being exposed to many developed technologies.
In the articles for class dealing with moral obligations to developed countries, the ecological impact of evolving technologies was directly addressed (Nichols article). Within the past two years, knowledge and concern about harmful and toxic wastes from used electronics have been brought to the forefront of the public debate through articles in TIME, National Geographic, and Newsweek. With growing fuel costs and the drastic changes in localized and global weather patterns, going "green" has become not just a focus but also a positive emotional ad campaign. People world-wide are beginning to look at their carbon footprint and to make companies who create the goods they purchase do the same. The idea of waste is even prevalent in the Gods / Crazy movie: the forced technology acquisition was a glass Coca-Cola bottle thrown out the window of a prop plane as trash, representing the oftentimes negative ecological impact of developing technologies.
Talbott's article stressed the importance of working with native cultures to establish development systems for technology. This sounds great on paper, but the idea is often not accepted by developed cultures. From the banning of Greek and Roman technologies in the Dark Ages to the novel Heart of Darkness and its film interpretation Apocalypse Now, many in power in developed cultures have an innate distrust of native societies who do not have hierarchical power structures. Those who have gained power by controlling or benefiting from evolving technologies fear societies where this type of power is minimized or non-existent; it strikes at the very heart of the power-broker's elite place in developed society.
When a society begins to become dependent on technologies, they seem to loose the ability to adapt to their culture and ecology and instead attempt to control it. A good example would be world-wide water use. Moving bodies of water (rivers and streams) do not run straight and naturally go through cycles of flood and drought. As humanity develops technology for food production and transportation, it wishes to continually improve. To best accomplish this result, the rivers need to be straightened and dammed, their wetlands drained, and channels cut in for irrigation. Water for consumption and waste removal has gone through cycles of failure and success based on human location and population size. Humans have even controlled water underground, mining aquifers for water with little to no consideration of its effect on the basic structure of Earth's crust. All these changes are seen as good until the ecosystem(s) become so imbalanced that they cause a change in the environment of humanity; when this happens, societies will mobilize to again change nature to what will benefit them most, even if it means nature's original state.
The idea of a global village is a positive one if the implementation of introduced technologies takes into account the native peoples, ecosystems, and cultures they are intended to benefit. A paradigm shift in benefactor power will also be necessary, an area which may prevent the idea from every truly coming to fruition. Developed countries need to stop viewing developing countries with a paternalistic "work in progress" mentality, but instead view those developing cultures as equal residents on this planet who may or may not wish to participate in developed countries' technological gains. Developed countries need to accept the decisions of native cultures and not force technologies on these peoples "for their own good."
The global village affects the K-12 classroom as the world flattens. Immigration (often based on war or need) is evident throughout America, with inner-city schools experiencing dramatic changes in acculturation and learning while trying to deal with persistent poverty and extensive bureaucracy. The idea of teachers being the "heart of society" by giving students pure knowledge as well as life skills is wonderful, but often becomes messy when dealing with students' home lives, lack of funding, and mandated testing. Developed countries need to learn how to work through these problems before trying to "start over fresh" by establishing education systems in less-developed countries. These problems are overwhelming in developed countries; they could bring a developing nation to its knees.
The emotional idea of the global village is an essential component of K-12 classrooms. Our students must have a deep and broad understanding of cultures throughout the world in order to function as literate, competent, motivated and involved members in the society of their future. This job rests not just on education through the schools but on media: students need to be shown what is beyond the white ethnocentric traditional culture of America and how it can and will impact their lives. Evolving technologies, usually involving various forms of media, are currently the best way to connect students with these ideas, and keeping them engaged will ensure their vested interest in the outcome.
Pojman's Moral Philosophy: Moral Responsibilities in Education
In Louis Pojman's article "What Is Moral Philosophy?" he contends that morality is the "most important subject on earth" and therefore needs to be applied to subject content instruction in education. The author states five purposed of morality:
The final area covered by the author involves the four domains of ethical assessment: actions, consequences, character, and motive.
The types of action include "right acts" which are permissible as either an option or obligatory act, and "wrong acts" which one should always refrain from doing. He greatly stresses the idea of "right acts," going so far as to discuss supererogatory acts that go above and beyond what is necessary, deontological acts, stressing the inherent nature of the acts being performed, and Kant's hypothetical and categorical commands.
The consequences for actions stresses the teleological theories used to determine moral correctness and Bentham & Mill's Utilitarianism stressing actions that are done for the good of all.
The idea of character is entertwined with virtue, or the extremet importance of applying ethics to one's life to ensure a society of good people who attempt to always do good. Using Aristotle's ideas of ethics, the author stresses that all moral systems emphasize different virtues to different degrees.
The most difficult area covered is motive, or the relevance of the intention behind any actions taken. This was addressed in detail under the description of legal morality in determining guilt.
The author's five purposes of morality are set forth on a very large scale. Some can apply directly to instruction, but others would be much harder to utilize. Each will be examined here.
The first purpose, to keep society from falling apart, is much more evident in schools that function as a major element within a society: perennialist schools would have a fit being asked to instruct these methods, and in some ways, so would essentialist schools.
The idea of amending human suffering can mean to use education to help those less fortunate. This idea has been heavily developed with such programs as CityYear and Americorps, where students who have had positive educational opportunities are encourages to give a year of their lives to work in struggling education systems as teachers, coaches, and mentors.
The idea of promoting the human race is not only lofty but also self-serving. Humanity has been promoting itself through obtaining and applying new technologies since controlling the use of fire, and has paid little attention to the environmental or social costs involved. Schools grounded in the idea of "acquiring knowledge for knowledge's sake" will thrive in this field, while schools who promote the previous two purposes would take this to mean equalizing the playing field for the residents of 2nd and 3rd world countries, and would work toward applying that knowledge to those with little opportunity to obtain it.
Humanity is not very good at resolving conflicts in just or orderly ways. The idea of peaceful resolution not only rings false to most, but goes against the very heart of "fight or flight" present in all life on this planet. The theory of orderly conflict resolution with justice to all parties involved looks wonderful on paper, but fails miserably in the real world. Just listen in on a game of pick-up basketball after school any day and this will become evident. As long as we have social, fiscal, and racial inequalities in the world, there will be no true justice in conflict resolution.
While humanity is not good at conflict resolution, it is excellent at determine the cause, applying rules of engagement, and rewarding or punishing those involved in conflict. Any competitive activity is based in this, whether it be athletics, dance, chess club, fine arts competitions, or academic awards. This is an area where everyone becomes a behaviorist, with conditions required for objectives to be reached to satisfy mastery or a standard. In basketball, if all team members function to their highest ability as a unified team, they will win the game. In the spelling bee, if a student studies their words, knows the spelling evident in various entymologies, and can handle the pressure of being in a glaring spotlight, they will win. For every desired result there is a series of required actions necessary in a specific environment. When a group or individual does not succeed at "winning," blame is often assigned quickly and in a harsh manner: "winners date the prom queen while losers don't get a date and stay home". In many cases, it is the fear of losing that pushes the participant(s) toward winning, not so much the sense of personal accomplishment.
In many ways I agree that morality is essential to education. That being said, I do not believe that all of Pojman's purposes in morality could apply to real-world instruction. Working in a Catholic school, the idea of ethical action is woven into the very fabric of instruction. The separation of religious morality from legal morality is also intrinsic, while etiquette is approached more as an expected behavior than as a part of moral behavior. Unfortunately, many philosophers like the author bring about wonderful theories on paper, but their application in the real world becomes messy and easily knocked out of joint. Pojman does address some of these "difficult choices" with this examples of moral rules being overridden by other moral rules, but doesn't give the reader any direction to take in these situations. This "just do it and don't ask" aspect will turn off anyone who gets into one of these situations and attempts to find help but finds none.
I see my own role of moral agent as not just a teacher but as a member of society. My personal belief is that it is my job to myself as well as to others to always act in an ethical manner. I was raised in an extremely traditional Catholic household where proper etiquette (eating, attire, posture, attendance at events) were integrated into daily life. I attended Catholic schools where I had traditional instruction (many teachers in grade school were nuns or former nuns, many in high school were priests) and expected acceptable behaviors. In college I spent 4 years working for the military where behaviorism is still alive and well. These experiences showed me the importance of doing what is right in order to accept who I am as a person. They also showed me that hypocrisy is twice as evident in someone who preaches ethical behavior but chooses not to live it.
- To keep society of falling apart
- To amend human suffering
- To promote humanity's advancements
- To resolve problems in just and orderly ways
- To assign praise / blame, reward, and punishment / guilt
The final area covered by the author involves the four domains of ethical assessment: actions, consequences, character, and motive.
The types of action include "right acts" which are permissible as either an option or obligatory act, and "wrong acts" which one should always refrain from doing. He greatly stresses the idea of "right acts," going so far as to discuss supererogatory acts that go above and beyond what is necessary, deontological acts, stressing the inherent nature of the acts being performed, and Kant's hypothetical and categorical commands.
The consequences for actions stresses the teleological theories used to determine moral correctness and Bentham & Mill's Utilitarianism stressing actions that are done for the good of all.
The idea of character is entertwined with virtue, or the extremet importance of applying ethics to one's life to ensure a society of good people who attempt to always do good. Using Aristotle's ideas of ethics, the author stresses that all moral systems emphasize different virtues to different degrees.
The most difficult area covered is motive, or the relevance of the intention behind any actions taken. This was addressed in detail under the description of legal morality in determining guilt.
The author's five purposes of morality are set forth on a very large scale. Some can apply directly to instruction, but others would be much harder to utilize. Each will be examined here.
The first purpose, to keep society from falling apart, is much more evident in schools that function as a major element within a society: perennialist schools would have a fit being asked to instruct these methods, and in some ways, so would essentialist schools.
The idea of amending human suffering can mean to use education to help those less fortunate. This idea has been heavily developed with such programs as CityYear and Americorps, where students who have had positive educational opportunities are encourages to give a year of their lives to work in struggling education systems as teachers, coaches, and mentors.
The idea of promoting the human race is not only lofty but also self-serving. Humanity has been promoting itself through obtaining and applying new technologies since controlling the use of fire, and has paid little attention to the environmental or social costs involved. Schools grounded in the idea of "acquiring knowledge for knowledge's sake" will thrive in this field, while schools who promote the previous two purposes would take this to mean equalizing the playing field for the residents of 2nd and 3rd world countries, and would work toward applying that knowledge to those with little opportunity to obtain it.
Humanity is not very good at resolving conflicts in just or orderly ways. The idea of peaceful resolution not only rings false to most, but goes against the very heart of "fight or flight" present in all life on this planet. The theory of orderly conflict resolution with justice to all parties involved looks wonderful on paper, but fails miserably in the real world. Just listen in on a game of pick-up basketball after school any day and this will become evident. As long as we have social, fiscal, and racial inequalities in the world, there will be no true justice in conflict resolution.
While humanity is not good at conflict resolution, it is excellent at determine the cause, applying rules of engagement, and rewarding or punishing those involved in conflict. Any competitive activity is based in this, whether it be athletics, dance, chess club, fine arts competitions, or academic awards. This is an area where everyone becomes a behaviorist, with conditions required for objectives to be reached to satisfy mastery or a standard. In basketball, if all team members function to their highest ability as a unified team, they will win the game. In the spelling bee, if a student studies their words, knows the spelling evident in various entymologies, and can handle the pressure of being in a glaring spotlight, they will win. For every desired result there is a series of required actions necessary in a specific environment. When a group or individual does not succeed at "winning," blame is often assigned quickly and in a harsh manner: "winners date the prom queen while losers don't get a date and stay home". In many cases, it is the fear of losing that pushes the participant(s) toward winning, not so much the sense of personal accomplishment.
In many ways I agree that morality is essential to education. That being said, I do not believe that all of Pojman's purposes in morality could apply to real-world instruction. Working in a Catholic school, the idea of ethical action is woven into the very fabric of instruction. The separation of religious morality from legal morality is also intrinsic, while etiquette is approached more as an expected behavior than as a part of moral behavior. Unfortunately, many philosophers like the author bring about wonderful theories on paper, but their application in the real world becomes messy and easily knocked out of joint. Pojman does address some of these "difficult choices" with this examples of moral rules being overridden by other moral rules, but doesn't give the reader any direction to take in these situations. This "just do it and don't ask" aspect will turn off anyone who gets into one of these situations and attempts to find help but finds none.
I see my own role of moral agent as not just a teacher but as a member of society. My personal belief is that it is my job to myself as well as to others to always act in an ethical manner. I was raised in an extremely traditional Catholic household where proper etiquette (eating, attire, posture, attendance at events) were integrated into daily life. I attended Catholic schools where I had traditional instruction (many teachers in grade school were nuns or former nuns, many in high school were priests) and expected acceptable behaviors. In college I spent 4 years working for the military where behaviorism is still alive and well. These experiences showed me the importance of doing what is right in order to accept who I am as a person. They also showed me that hypocrisy is twice as evident in someone who preaches ethical behavior but chooses not to live it.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Traditional I.D. models specific to curricula
All traditional I.D. models are based off ADDIE, which was developed for military training during World War II. Therefore, all these models contain some element of the following: analyze, design, develop, implement, and evaluate. All contain some form of flowchart, most often in a linear format. All require extensive front-end analysis and creation of specific objectives, and some form of feedback from learners, most often after instruction.
As it stands today, the ADDIE method would be most applicable in a business factory training situation. It would require a significant amount of human resources for creation and implementation, would be time-consuming in the process leading toward writing the I.D. document, and would be a "one-model-fits-all" instructional package with review and revision set up at the end of the process. A factory where a minimum competency standard (i.e. using new machinery to package toys more efficiently) would be necessary for the safety and improved output of all workers would be an excellent place to use this model, and would use a consistent sent of instructional materials (i.e. worksheets for instruction with a CRT test at the end).
The ASSURE model was created to be used by classroom teachers for writing lesson plans and follows the following format: analyze learners, state objectives, select instructional methods/ media/ materials, utilize media and materials, require learner participation, evaluate and revise. This process also requires a large front- end analysis, and the objective writing process is based firmly in behaviorism. The revision and reflection occurs at the end of the lesson and is supposed to encourage teachers to revise the lesson for "next time." This process would not be beneficial to any self-contained teacher K-5 who does not re-teach the same lesson until next year. This model does stress finding the best media fit for meeting the objectives and student instruction of the material, and it also requires learner participation through interactive activities. This model would work best in a high school hard science course taught several times throughout the day, such as physics, chemistry, or biology. These fields best lend themselves to mixed learner schema and fields of experience, student participation, and a variety of instructional materials in order to accomplish specific objectives or learning goals (i.e. hands-on dissections vs. interactive virtual dissections).
The Big 8 model of I.D. is a linear model that works in a circular way. This model is formatted to select the concept, determine objectives, choose learning activities, write out a lesson plan, choose supporting media, produce media, present final lesson plan, and evaluate. This plan includes teacher-produced media for instruction and a revision of the product (lesson plan) immediately before instruction, but still puts the emphasis on reflection at the end. Again, this process would not really benefit any self-contained teachers who would not be revisiting the lesson until the following year, and it shows little interest in the role of learners. The Big 8 model would best be used in a college course where all in the school are required to take it. It has a one-size-fits-all feel, which may be necessary in classes of 200+ students simply to manage time and size. It would require consistent instructional materials to ensure all students receive the same information required for testing. Also, this extremely linear format may work best when using teaching assistants to help instruct or assess student work: it keeps all in control of grading student work on the same page, ensuring consistency in grading.
The complete I.D. plan model takes an interactive linear approach and surrounds it with an encompassing circular revision and evaluation process. The basis of this approach involves defining the learning needs / goals / priorities / constraints, then working interactively with the following processes: topics - job tasks / purposes, learner characteristics, subject content task analysis, learning objectives, teaching / learning activities, instructional resources, support services, learning evaluation, and pretesting. The cyclical revision process rolls through four phases: formative evaluation, revision, summative evaluation, and revision. This model may work well in at-risk reading or math classrooms due to its interactivity of components and it ever-continuing evaluation and revision processes. It would use a variety of instructional materials in development and implementation, but with the overall specific learning goals (i.e. reading at grade level by 4th grade) in mind. That being said, this model does not take into account external factors that affect instruction, including divergent fields of experience, language barriers, student home life, attention or behavior issues.
Perhaps the most commonly known I.D. model is the Dick and Carey I.D. model. As the forerunner to most modern models today, this model is extremely linear with some reflection and revision built into the end of the process through the use of formative evaluation that leads to summative evaluation. The model stresses criterion-referenced testing to show mastery of a specific set of learning skills. This model also has attempted to make revisions over the years to adapt to changes in technology and instructional theory. The Dick and Carey model would be best suited to creating competency tests for areas such as basic writing skills, basic knowledge of a language (i.e. Spanish used in the workplace), or basic math skills. The model lends itself to multiple choice testing or other closed evaluation systems.
As it stands today, the ADDIE method would be most applicable in a business factory training situation. It would require a significant amount of human resources for creation and implementation, would be time-consuming in the process leading toward writing the I.D. document, and would be a "one-model-fits-all" instructional package with review and revision set up at the end of the process. A factory where a minimum competency standard (i.e. using new machinery to package toys more efficiently) would be necessary for the safety and improved output of all workers would be an excellent place to use this model, and would use a consistent sent of instructional materials (i.e. worksheets for instruction with a CRT test at the end).
The ASSURE model was created to be used by classroom teachers for writing lesson plans and follows the following format: analyze learners, state objectives, select instructional methods/ media/ materials, utilize media and materials, require learner participation, evaluate and revise. This process also requires a large front- end analysis, and the objective writing process is based firmly in behaviorism. The revision and reflection occurs at the end of the lesson and is supposed to encourage teachers to revise the lesson for "next time." This process would not be beneficial to any self-contained teacher K-5 who does not re-teach the same lesson until next year. This model does stress finding the best media fit for meeting the objectives and student instruction of the material, and it also requires learner participation through interactive activities. This model would work best in a high school hard science course taught several times throughout the day, such as physics, chemistry, or biology. These fields best lend themselves to mixed learner schema and fields of experience, student participation, and a variety of instructional materials in order to accomplish specific objectives or learning goals (i.e. hands-on dissections vs. interactive virtual dissections).
The Big 8 model of I.D. is a linear model that works in a circular way. This model is formatted to select the concept, determine objectives, choose learning activities, write out a lesson plan, choose supporting media, produce media, present final lesson plan, and evaluate. This plan includes teacher-produced media for instruction and a revision of the product (lesson plan) immediately before instruction, but still puts the emphasis on reflection at the end. Again, this process would not really benefit any self-contained teachers who would not be revisiting the lesson until the following year, and it shows little interest in the role of learners. The Big 8 model would best be used in a college course where all in the school are required to take it. It has a one-size-fits-all feel, which may be necessary in classes of 200+ students simply to manage time and size. It would require consistent instructional materials to ensure all students receive the same information required for testing. Also, this extremely linear format may work best when using teaching assistants to help instruct or assess student work: it keeps all in control of grading student work on the same page, ensuring consistency in grading.
The complete I.D. plan model takes an interactive linear approach and surrounds it with an encompassing circular revision and evaluation process. The basis of this approach involves defining the learning needs / goals / priorities / constraints, then working interactively with the following processes: topics - job tasks / purposes, learner characteristics, subject content task analysis, learning objectives, teaching / learning activities, instructional resources, support services, learning evaluation, and pretesting. The cyclical revision process rolls through four phases: formative evaluation, revision, summative evaluation, and revision. This model may work well in at-risk reading or math classrooms due to its interactivity of components and it ever-continuing evaluation and revision processes. It would use a variety of instructional materials in development and implementation, but with the overall specific learning goals (i.e. reading at grade level by 4th grade) in mind. That being said, this model does not take into account external factors that affect instruction, including divergent fields of experience, language barriers, student home life, attention or behavior issues.
Perhaps the most commonly known I.D. model is the Dick and Carey I.D. model. As the forerunner to most modern models today, this model is extremely linear with some reflection and revision built into the end of the process through the use of formative evaluation that leads to summative evaluation. The model stresses criterion-referenced testing to show mastery of a specific set of learning skills. This model also has attempted to make revisions over the years to adapt to changes in technology and instructional theory. The Dick and Carey model would be best suited to creating competency tests for areas such as basic writing skills, basic knowledge of a language (i.e. Spanish used in the workplace), or basic math skills. The model lends itself to multiple choice testing or other closed evaluation systems.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Given your definitions of Tech and Media, define IndstructionaTechnology
Technology is any process or product that improves an aspect of life. Media are the delivery systems for communication. Technology can improve the creation, distribution, and delivery of media between individuals or groups, and information about a technology distributed through media can help or hinder a technology's distribution. Both concepts are intertwined, with one needing the other in order to continue to grow.
Instructional technology uses both technology and media in development, design, implementation, and creation to best enhance student learning. The goal of IT research is to understand the impact technology and media have on student learning, the teaching process, and the education process as a whole (Hargrave WebCT lecture 6/19). Based on assigned readings and lectures, the concept of instructional technology has been a work in progress over the last one hundred years. All of this must be taken into account in order to determine the best definition of instructional technology; that being said, this definition needs to be an evolving work in progress, changing as research into the field continues to help it evolve and grow.
As technologies have improved, educational psychologists and teachers have attempted to integrate those improvements into the classroom. The original belief was that if a large group were to receive a message through a specific medium en masse, all members of the group would receive the same message equally. As research and technologies evolved, the educational theory of behaviorism began to have an impact on I.T., and media comparison studies began to develop. The studies determined that there were no significant differences in student learning when comparing media. Starting in the 1980's, the impact of cognitive theory was felt in I.T., researching the effectiveness of matching student learning types to specific media in order to enhance student learning. Much of this was grounded in the development of computer based learning. The newest research takes the cognitive theory one step further by adding neuroscience to the mix. This blending of the psychology and biology of the brain is further enhanced by intra-media studies using research to show technology used naturally within the flow of classroom instruction and assessment to gain an understanding of how a single medium within itself can best help student learning. According to Reiser, the AECT 1994 definition of Instructional Technology states: "Instructional Technology is the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning."
Add to this plethora of information the four theories of instructional technology (systems theory, communication theory, behaviorism, and constructivism), and the basis of information available to create a definition of instructional technology is almost overwhelming. Many questions arise and need to be addressed: Should IT be specific to only technology classrooms, or should it be applicable to classes across the board? How should teacher training look, for both incoming teachers and those who have been in the field for many years? Who / what will supply the funding for such an endeavor? What about age-appropriateness?
My personal belief is that I.T. should be treated as a combination of several factors. The concept of using technology to better enhance communication is key. Teachers should use technology naturally within instruction and assessment to create authentic experiences for students to apply to their schema, use metacognition for self-correction, and take and use that information to make continuing cross-curricular connections. Students need to be able to show measurable quantifiable behaviors to meet previously determined standards and benchmarks. Students needs to take ownership of their own learning by functioning as partners in that learning with their teachers, determining appropriate behaviors regarding technology use and abuse, positive and negative consequences for those behaviors, and functioning as a self-governing democracy regarding those consequences. Students need to be able to work in groups to help foster ideas, function as emotional and intellectual supports, and create new concepts or items. All these skills are now necessary in order for today's students to become active, competent, and engaged citizens in the ever shrinking (or flattening) world of the 21st century. Students need to have their desire to be problem-solving, ever-evolving, never-ending learners fostered by teacher mentors in this newly emerging world of technology and media infusion.
Instructional technology uses both technology and media in development, design, implementation, and creation to best enhance student learning. The goal of IT research is to understand the impact technology and media have on student learning, the teaching process, and the education process as a whole (Hargrave WebCT lecture 6/19). Based on assigned readings and lectures, the concept of instructional technology has been a work in progress over the last one hundred years. All of this must be taken into account in order to determine the best definition of instructional technology; that being said, this definition needs to be an evolving work in progress, changing as research into the field continues to help it evolve and grow.
As technologies have improved, educational psychologists and teachers have attempted to integrate those improvements into the classroom. The original belief was that if a large group were to receive a message through a specific medium en masse, all members of the group would receive the same message equally. As research and technologies evolved, the educational theory of behaviorism began to have an impact on I.T., and media comparison studies began to develop. The studies determined that there were no significant differences in student learning when comparing media. Starting in the 1980's, the impact of cognitive theory was felt in I.T., researching the effectiveness of matching student learning types to specific media in order to enhance student learning. Much of this was grounded in the development of computer based learning. The newest research takes the cognitive theory one step further by adding neuroscience to the mix. This blending of the psychology and biology of the brain is further enhanced by intra-media studies using research to show technology used naturally within the flow of classroom instruction and assessment to gain an understanding of how a single medium within itself can best help student learning. According to Reiser, the AECT 1994 definition of Instructional Technology states: "Instructional Technology is the theory and practice of design, development, utilization, management, and evaluation of processes and resources for learning."
Add to this plethora of information the four theories of instructional technology (systems theory, communication theory, behaviorism, and constructivism), and the basis of information available to create a definition of instructional technology is almost overwhelming. Many questions arise and need to be addressed: Should IT be specific to only technology classrooms, or should it be applicable to classes across the board? How should teacher training look, for both incoming teachers and those who have been in the field for many years? Who / what will supply the funding for such an endeavor? What about age-appropriateness?
My personal belief is that I.T. should be treated as a combination of several factors. The concept of using technology to better enhance communication is key. Teachers should use technology naturally within instruction and assessment to create authentic experiences for students to apply to their schema, use metacognition for self-correction, and take and use that information to make continuing cross-curricular connections. Students need to be able to show measurable quantifiable behaviors to meet previously determined standards and benchmarks. Students needs to take ownership of their own learning by functioning as partners in that learning with their teachers, determining appropriate behaviors regarding technology use and abuse, positive and negative consequences for those behaviors, and functioning as a self-governing democracy regarding those consequences. Students need to be able to work in groups to help foster ideas, function as emotional and intellectual supports, and create new concepts or items. All these skills are now necessary in order for today's students to become active, competent, and engaged citizens in the ever shrinking (or flattening) world of the 21st century. Students need to have their desire to be problem-solving, ever-evolving, never-ending learners fostered by teacher mentors in this newly emerging world of technology and media infusion.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Visual and Media Literacy
What are the similarities and differences between visual literacy and media literacy?
The term literacy has traditionally meant to decode, interpret, and comprehend text. As technologies have evolved, this term needs to be broken down by discipline and continually updated. Visual literacy is the ability to work with visual cues by interpreting, creating, encoding, and decoding: seeing relationships, picturing circumstances, and visualizing solutions. Media literacy is more difficult to define simply because of the broad scope and spectrum for the term media. Media literacy has been defined many ways, but for these purposes will be defined as: one's ability to critically think about how to access, evaluate, & create messages and to participate with these messages in a variety of forms.
The processes of understanding and creating visual literacy are both extremely linear and follow established parameters. Comprehending visual literacy is often shown using Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience to measure the level of concrete or abstract thinking required: the base, or completely concrete, level displays the student doing the action; the middle, or beginning abstraction, level displays the student observing the action; and the top, or most abstract, level displays the student understanding knowledge through visual and verbal symbolisms. In creating media design to show visual literacy the student will follow the design principles based in the creation of visual arts: balance, sequence, emphasis, and unity (which uses the artistic elements of color, shape, line, space, and texture). Visual literacy has its roots in the functions of communication, intending to inform, instruct, persuade, entertain, or enrich. Finally, the student's use of specific colors and color combinations, layout, and design proportion will relay to the consumer an emotional response as well as transmission of the initial message. This response may be noise within the communication process, or bias used to persuade.
While visual literacy is extremely lineal, media literacy is anything but. The main focus of media literacy is to teach students to become critical thinkers and to ask questions, not look for answers in their daily work. Media literacy can either enlighten and democratize or become an unequal elitist force within a society. There are five core concepts of media: that is it constructed by an author, uses creative language containing its own rules, that the point of view different for different people, that they have embedded values, and that messages are sent to gain profit or power. The two parts of media, construction and deconstruction, are BOTH essential to developing a strong media literacy. Based on Thoman & Jolls article "Media Literacy: A National Priority for a Changing World," there are five key questions to apply in both construction and deconstruction of media. These five questions are companions to the five key concepts, and are as follows:
Sonia Livingston continues the definition of media literacy in her article "The Changing Nature and Uses of Media Literacy" by stressing that the heart of media literacy is found in both construction and deconstruction of the media; literacy can not be achieved without both elements. She also reiterates that media literacy is media-dependent: a person must engage with the text on a personal level in order to attain "literacy."
Both visual literacy and media literacy stress the importance of creation in gaining literacy. Both also stress the development and use of critical thinking skills in the creation and deconstruction processes. Both stress that authorship is not natural and is based in the experience and point of view of the creator. Finally, both forms of literacy show that without a doubt education must go beyond the traditional definition of literacy and begin to instruct students in supplementary forms of literacy that will be essential to their future as active, engaged, and functional citizens of the future.
That being said, media literacy does take some of its cues from visual literacy, but takes the ideas much further. Media does involve text in print, but it carries the concepts of emotional schema and bias through composition much further. Also, media literacy deals with all forms of media, from advertisements, to textbooks, blogs to spam. The vast cornucopia of formats within media make it innately more complex and less likely to lend itself to linear definitions.
** Compiled using WebCT video lectures, lecture notes for CI 501 and the following articles:
"The Changing Nature and Uses of Media Literacy" by Sonia Livingstone published in London, 2003, obtained from the on-line media collection at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Thoman, E & Jolls, T. (2004, September.) "Media Literacy: A National Priority for a Changing World" American Behaviorial Scientist. 48:1. from the Center for Media Literacy website.
The term literacy has traditionally meant to decode, interpret, and comprehend text. As technologies have evolved, this term needs to be broken down by discipline and continually updated. Visual literacy is the ability to work with visual cues by interpreting, creating, encoding, and decoding: seeing relationships, picturing circumstances, and visualizing solutions. Media literacy is more difficult to define simply because of the broad scope and spectrum for the term media. Media literacy has been defined many ways, but for these purposes will be defined as: one's ability to critically think about how to access, evaluate, & create messages and to participate with these messages in a variety of forms.
The processes of understanding and creating visual literacy are both extremely linear and follow established parameters. Comprehending visual literacy is often shown using Edgar Dale's Cone of Experience to measure the level of concrete or abstract thinking required: the base, or completely concrete, level displays the student doing the action; the middle, or beginning abstraction, level displays the student observing the action; and the top, or most abstract, level displays the student understanding knowledge through visual and verbal symbolisms. In creating media design to show visual literacy the student will follow the design principles based in the creation of visual arts: balance, sequence, emphasis, and unity (which uses the artistic elements of color, shape, line, space, and texture). Visual literacy has its roots in the functions of communication, intending to inform, instruct, persuade, entertain, or enrich. Finally, the student's use of specific colors and color combinations, layout, and design proportion will relay to the consumer an emotional response as well as transmission of the initial message. This response may be noise within the communication process, or bias used to persuade.
While visual literacy is extremely lineal, media literacy is anything but. The main focus of media literacy is to teach students to become critical thinkers and to ask questions, not look for answers in their daily work. Media literacy can either enlighten and democratize or become an unequal elitist force within a society. There are five core concepts of media: that is it constructed by an author, uses creative language containing its own rules, that the point of view different for different people, that they have embedded values, and that messages are sent to gain profit or power. The two parts of media, construction and deconstruction, are BOTH essential to developing a strong media literacy. Based on Thoman & Jolls article "Media Literacy: A National Priority for a Changing World," there are five key questions to apply in both construction and deconstruction of media. These five questions are companions to the five key concepts, and are as follows:
| concept | deconstruction questions | construction questions |
| authorship | Who created this message? | What am I creating? |
| format | What creative techniques are used to attract my attention? | Does the message reflect an understanding in format, creativity & technology? |
| consumers | How might different people view this differently? | Is my message engaging & compelling for my target audience? |
| content | What values, lifestyles & points of view are shown or omitted in this message? | Does content have clearly & consistently framed values & points of view? |
| purpose | Why is this message being sent? | Is the purpose communicated clearly & effectively? |
Both visual literacy and media literacy stress the importance of creation in gaining literacy. Both also stress the development and use of critical thinking skills in the creation and deconstruction processes. Both stress that authorship is not natural and is based in the experience and point of view of the creator. Finally, both forms of literacy show that without a doubt education must go beyond the traditional definition of literacy and begin to instruct students in supplementary forms of literacy that will be essential to their future as active, engaged, and functional citizens of the future.
That being said, media literacy does take some of its cues from visual literacy, but takes the ideas much further. Media does involve text in print, but it carries the concepts of emotional schema and bias through composition much further. Also, media literacy deals with all forms of media, from advertisements, to textbooks, blogs to spam. The vast cornucopia of formats within media make it innately more complex and less likely to lend itself to linear definitions.
** Compiled using WebCT video lectures, lecture notes for CI 501 and the following articles:
"The Changing Nature and Uses of Media Literacy" by Sonia Livingstone published in London, 2003, obtained from the on-line media collection at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Thoman, E & Jolls, T. (2004, September.) "Media Literacy: A National Priority for a Changing World" American Behaviorial Scientist. 48:1. from the Center for Media Literacy website.
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