Okay, so after a little push from a professor, I have re-activated my (previously mentioned) Twitter profile. As I mentioned in an earlier blog post, I used to have a Twitter account, but deactivated it because I couldn't seem to find a practical use for it. I just didn't "get" it. However, I am currently involved in a group project about using social media in education, so I am back.
In doing some research for this project, Twitter kept coming up over and over again. Obviously I am missing something if that many people find it useful and meaningful... One website/presentation I looked at (http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=856919732755217570#editor/target=post;postID=3924918296399476507) suggested a Twitter-Test-Drive:
Step 1: Follow Dr. Joseph Pisano's list of music educators.....DONE
Step 2: Search the hashtags: #musedchat #musiced #mused #artsed.....DONE
I Have to admit, I've already stumbled on some pretty interesting things...
Here's one of the first neat things I found:
http://www.lessonlogs.com
On this website, you can create an account to keep track of all your students' lessons/lesson notes/practice. You can make a list of all the students in your studio/class and make lesson schedules. During/after lessons, you can make notes for the students. Students have their own account which allows them to see the notes you've made for them. Also (and I think this is the cool part amidst all the talk of practice records in my classes) students are able to track their practice with start/end times, notes about what they practiced, and a self-given rating for the practice session. The website tracks practice stats with graphs. I see this working better for private teachers, but you might be able to make it work in a larger setting too...I'd have to play with it more before I can say for sure. I might have to try this out with a few of my own students...
Perhaps I was too quick to discredit Twitter...
Now I guess I just wait and see what else shows up in my feed over the next few days!
If you're not already on Twitter, I encourage readers to try the Twitter-Test-Drive for themselves and see what they discover. Stay tuned for my findings!
Sunday, 4 November 2012
Sunday, 28 October 2012
Death of Face-to-Face; ICT Etiquette
This past Friday, my fiancé decided to go to a movie - Paranormal Activity 4. Going to a movie is not too frequent an activity as it is expensive, nor do we have a lot of time that isn't filled with various classes and assignments as we are both fourth year university students.
After spending our nearly thirty dollars on tickets and snacks, we found our seats. Looking down through the seats, I could see so many lit up screens. This made me think of a poem I wrote last year for a creative writing class:
Amongst all the options we have for communicating with one another: e-mail, instant messaging, text messages, phone, video chats, airplane sky-writing... - I still prefer face-to-face communication with people. Only through being with a person can you truly understand what they are saying. There is so much more to communication than words - voice inflection, body language, touch, facial expression...and only through real time, in person contact can you get all these facets of communication. Of course, I'm not saying that I don't text message or message through Facebook, but I know when it is more appropriate to talk to someone in person.
Sometimes I fear that with all the technological advances we have, the ability of people to clearly communicate with another is actually declining. I think that part of our responsibility as ICT literacy educators is to teach students when different forms of communication is appropriate. Perhaps along with ICT literacy, we should also be teaching students about ICT Etiquette. Digital communication cannot be a replacement for personal, one-on-one contact.
After spending our nearly thirty dollars on tickets and snacks, we found our seats. Looking down through the seats, I could see so many lit up screens. This made me think of a poem I wrote last year for a creative writing class:
Death of Face-to-FaceLooking at all those phones lit up made me think about why one would even bother to be at the movie. If you're out with someone, I think you should be focused on them, not involved in multiple conversations at the same time. When I am with someone in a one-on-one setting and their face is buried in their phone half the time, it makes me feel unimportant, not worth the time of day. If you were on a date with someone, you wouldn't spend half your time speaking to someone at the next table would you?
iPod, iPad, iPhoneiLifeeMail, textDigitized world.Infinitely attached to the world,Hopelessly disconnected.Too busy for our family,Check Facebook 24 times a day.Take one dose per hour, repeat daily.867 “friends”, but not one to call.Hollow social life, like a dollar-store vase.Notifications, news feeds;Feeds like a parasite,Consuming our energy.Wasting our time.#insanity #isthisreallife#whathappenedtorealityCommunication instantly across the world: unremarkable.Communication across the dinner table: non-existent.Phones and computers sewn to our hands,The stitches dig deep, technology controlling us.Puppets at the ends of their cables,Dancing to whatever song they play.Cast away your digital tethers.Meet a friend and look them in the eye.Ignore the buzz, for just a moment.Step back into reality.
Amongst all the options we have for communicating with one another: e-mail, instant messaging, text messages, phone, video chats, airplane sky-writing... - I still prefer face-to-face communication with people. Only through being with a person can you truly understand what they are saying. There is so much more to communication than words - voice inflection, body language, touch, facial expression...and only through real time, in person contact can you get all these facets of communication. Of course, I'm not saying that I don't text message or message through Facebook, but I know when it is more appropriate to talk to someone in person.
Sometimes I fear that with all the technological advances we have, the ability of people to clearly communicate with another is actually declining. I think that part of our responsibility as ICT literacy educators is to teach students when different forms of communication is appropriate. Perhaps along with ICT literacy, we should also be teaching students about ICT Etiquette. Digital communication cannot be a replacement for personal, one-on-one contact.
Sunday, 21 October 2012
What Happened to Human Contact?
Earlier this week, I was looking for "SmartBoard in the band room" ideas with my class partner. I came across the idea of using the board to have students sign in digitally as they enter the classroom in lieu of the teacher doing attendance. Immediately after reading this idea, I hated it.
I love technology, but not when it hinders meaningful personal contact. In several music-education courses, we have been told that the two most important minutes of your class are as the students are coming into your classroom and when they are leaving. The time before class begins should be used to create relationships with your students. How could a teacher be so disconnected that they are not even aware of which students bothered to show up to their class. I word this as "bothered to show up" because that's how a teacher like that would make me feel. If the teacher can't even tell whether I am there or not, why would I be motivated to attend class?
As many of my colleagues have mentioned in their own blog posts, technology needs to be used in a meaningful way. Technology should be a means to enhance education, not hinder it. A personal connection with your students is an incredibly important aspect in a classroom environment...and in no classroom is this more important than in the band room. Musicking is very personal. We expect students to "put themselves out there" and express themselves. In order for students to be comfortable doing this, they need to feel a high level of trust with you and know that you care about them. If any technology takes away from students and teachers being able to create this important relationship, then it has no place in the band room.
I love technology, but not when it hinders meaningful personal contact. In several music-education courses, we have been told that the two most important minutes of your class are as the students are coming into your classroom and when they are leaving. The time before class begins should be used to create relationships with your students. How could a teacher be so disconnected that they are not even aware of which students bothered to show up to their class. I word this as "bothered to show up" because that's how a teacher like that would make me feel. If the teacher can't even tell whether I am there or not, why would I be motivated to attend class?
As many of my colleagues have mentioned in their own blog posts, technology needs to be used in a meaningful way. Technology should be a means to enhance education, not hinder it. A personal connection with your students is an incredibly important aspect in a classroom environment...and in no classroom is this more important than in the band room. Musicking is very personal. We expect students to "put themselves out there" and express themselves. In order for students to be comfortable doing this, they need to feel a high level of trust with you and know that you care about them. If any technology takes away from students and teachers being able to create this important relationship, then it has no place in the band room.
Sunday, 14 October 2012
Twitter in the Classroom
Perhaps this post is a little hypocritical seeing as a previous blog was about using a Twitter-inspired board in the classroom, but bear with me... (My other post talked more about what students could share using a Twitter-like forum, this is more about what a classroom could take in from Twitter.)
I just don't "get" the whole Twitter thing. I avoided it for the longest time, but one day got curious enough to set up my own account. After exploring for a while...I still didn't get it. In fact, just a few days ago, I deleted my account.
In several ICT classes, the idea of using Twitter in the classroom has been mentioned. I even saw it mentioned in a newspaper yesterday - an award winning teacher that incorporates Twitter. With my experience, however, I couldn't really understand how one could use Twitter in the classroom in a meaningful way.
I decided to do a little research. So, I Googled "using twitter in the classroom". The first result: http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom --> a list of 50 ways to use Twitter in the classroom. I feel as though many of these ideas seem as though they are using Twitter just for the sake of using Twitter.
I like the idea of using Twitter to share information between members of a class (i.e. assignment info/due dates, collaboration on projects, posting of articles/videos relevant to lesson topics) as well as using it as a way to connect classrooms across the hall or across the world. However, I still don't quite understand how students might be expected to gather much information from Twitter beyond basic ideas. To find in depth information, students would need to be directed to other websites anyways. (E.g. students might find news headlines, but that doesn't tell them the full story...students might find quotes...but there is no context)
Maybe I just don't understand Twitter and maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance, but I just don't see how it can be used in a truly meaningful way that won't distract from the point of a lesson. If someone has any good ideas, I would love to hear them. I want to like Twitter, I really do! But right now...I just don't get it.
I just don't "get" the whole Twitter thing. I avoided it for the longest time, but one day got curious enough to set up my own account. After exploring for a while...I still didn't get it. In fact, just a few days ago, I deleted my account.
In several ICT classes, the idea of using Twitter in the classroom has been mentioned. I even saw it mentioned in a newspaper yesterday - an award winning teacher that incorporates Twitter. With my experience, however, I couldn't really understand how one could use Twitter in the classroom in a meaningful way.
I decided to do a little research. So, I Googled "using twitter in the classroom". The first result: http://www.teachhub.com/50-ways-use-twitter-classroom --> a list of 50 ways to use Twitter in the classroom. I feel as though many of these ideas seem as though they are using Twitter just for the sake of using Twitter.
I like the idea of using Twitter to share information between members of a class (i.e. assignment info/due dates, collaboration on projects, posting of articles/videos relevant to lesson topics) as well as using it as a way to connect classrooms across the hall or across the world. However, I still don't quite understand how students might be expected to gather much information from Twitter beyond basic ideas. To find in depth information, students would need to be directed to other websites anyways. (E.g. students might find news headlines, but that doesn't tell them the full story...students might find quotes...but there is no context)
Maybe I just don't understand Twitter and maybe I didn't give it enough of a chance, but I just don't see how it can be used in a truly meaningful way that won't distract from the point of a lesson. If someone has any good ideas, I would love to hear them. I want to like Twitter, I really do! But right now...I just don't get it.
Thursday, 4 October 2012
Digital Footprints
This week in class we've been talking about our digital footprint. We talked about taking control of your digital footprint - keeping it clean, and only allowing people to see what you want them to see.
There was a mention of employers (potential or current) looking at your social media sites to see what kind of person you are outside of the workplace. This has got me thinking about the question of whether or not things found on social media websites are any of an employers business in the first place.
I have been thinking about this question, and still haven't come up with a good answer.
Take for example any one of our Facebook pages. I keep my Facebook page quite clean (partly due to the fact I am not a partier...and therefore there is no opportunity for questionable pictures to be posted) but I know for a fact that many students have pictures of themselves having fun at parties - perhaps with some kind of alcohol in their hand. Maybe another picture shows you "scantily clad" at a beach.
Should this pictures like this give a prospective employer a negative view of you? If you are able to come into work and give 100% consistently, then why should these pictures/statues matter?
Thinking about this problem, it is not possible to ignore the fact that teachers tend to be held at a higher standard than people in other professions. I remember being in high school and seeing a teacher pulled over getting a ticket. That was big news in the school! Is that fair? Are teachers not regular humans? Aren't we allowed to "let our hair down" once in a while? And when we do...should evidence be allowed on Facebook?
Interesting topic, that I definitely haven't come to any conclusions about.
What do you all think?
There was a mention of employers (potential or current) looking at your social media sites to see what kind of person you are outside of the workplace. This has got me thinking about the question of whether or not things found on social media websites are any of an employers business in the first place.
I have been thinking about this question, and still haven't come up with a good answer.
Take for example any one of our Facebook pages. I keep my Facebook page quite clean (partly due to the fact I am not a partier...and therefore there is no opportunity for questionable pictures to be posted) but I know for a fact that many students have pictures of themselves having fun at parties - perhaps with some kind of alcohol in their hand. Maybe another picture shows you "scantily clad" at a beach.
Should this pictures like this give a prospective employer a negative view of you? If you are able to come into work and give 100% consistently, then why should these pictures/statues matter?
Thinking about this problem, it is not possible to ignore the fact that teachers tend to be held at a higher standard than people in other professions. I remember being in high school and seeing a teacher pulled over getting a ticket. That was big news in the school! Is that fair? Are teachers not regular humans? Aren't we allowed to "let our hair down" once in a while? And when we do...should evidence be allowed on Facebook?
Interesting topic, that I definitely haven't come to any conclusions about.
What do you all think?
Thursday, 27 September 2012
"Social Media" in the Classroom
I came across these two images the other day from some creative teachers:
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD9py_k0aZrt8BCjOntHWJRUR9E8cBfIBKJWD74wEqfwNXx9uwS-SWHLkIk9q4l71EDaJflM5c_Uyt6ahoihlZbh753_Pb9iicmRIAeJqHyJwMAhVfDYGI3vByh7DJWhoYm4eBzQUkxHs/s1600-h/DSC00825
(sorry I seem to have lost the original blog that it came off of...)
AND
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mownbywhite/6479537243/lightbox/
(this is from a 5th grade teacher's blog found at: http://mesmrswhitesclass.blogspot.ca)
I thought this was a unique way of incorporating ICT into the classroom, without...actually using ICT.
An idea like this allows teachers and students to explore social media on a small scale and within a perfectly safe environment. This would be a good first step for teachers/parents who have concerns about their students/children using social media networks like Facebook and Twitter and could show them the value in using such things in the classroom.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgD9py_k0aZrt8BCjOntHWJRUR9E8cBfIBKJWD74wEqfwNXx9uwS-SWHLkIk9q4l71EDaJflM5c_Uyt6ahoihlZbh753_Pb9iicmRIAeJqHyJwMAhVfDYGI3vByh7DJWhoYm4eBzQUkxHs/s1600-h/DSC00825
(sorry I seem to have lost the original blog that it came off of...)
AND
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mownbywhite/6479537243/lightbox/
(this is from a 5th grade teacher's blog found at: http://mesmrswhitesclass.blogspot.ca)
I thought this was a unique way of incorporating ICT into the classroom, without...actually using ICT.
An idea like this allows teachers and students to explore social media on a small scale and within a perfectly safe environment. This would be a good first step for teachers/parents who have concerns about their students/children using social media networks like Facebook and Twitter and could show them the value in using such things in the classroom.
Additionally, bulletin boards set up like this are simply a unique and relatable way for students to see/share information. The "Facebook Wall" is a good way to summarize the learning that is currently taking place in the classroom, as well as a place to share information about the classroom and students, and post events, important notes, and pictures.
The "Twitter Feed" would be a good place for students to have a place to express themselves. They could "tweet" about things they learned that day, how they're feeling, or what's on their mind. I might use the Twitter feed for students to tweet about their learning that day and use it as an "exit slip". This feed could give the teacher a snapshot of student learning and use it to judge how well a lesson was received that day.
Interesting concept.
What do you think? How might you use something like this in your classroom?
Monday, 24 September 2012
We need you. We believe in you. And we're counting on you.
This post is not so much ICT related but I still thought it was worthwhile to share. I found this video (again on Pinterest...no surprise) a little before the school year started and I've watched it a few times since. It's a man's "open letter to students returning to school".
http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=x78PnPd-V-A
We tend to think of education in terms of the students and learners. In other words, we advocate for education because the learner benefits from the learning. This video takes a bit of a different spin on things, in a way which I had never really given much thought to. He suggests that education is not necessarily for the benefit of the student, but rather for the benefit of society as a whole. We pay education taxes and support education in other ways because students learning things has the potential to make our lives better.
If we are not educating our students properly and inspiring them to continue learning and discovering, who will be the scientist to put humans on mars? Which doctor will discover the cure for breast cancer? Which composer will be the next Beethoven? Or who will discover a method of making microwave pizza so that it actually has a crispy crust? (Suggestion courtesy of the man in the video.) If we do not inspire our students to be lifelong learners, these things may be impossible.
As I mentioned in my first blog, we are preparing students for the future, not the present. We are not training them for jobs, but rather helping them to become lifelong thinkers and learners so that they may thrive in an environment that we cannot even imagine today. To think of it in terms of this video, we are preparing our students to be beneficial for the future of our society so that we might all have better lives.
Just thought this was an interesting way to think about education in general.
Post your thoughts in the comments.
(P.S. Please note that I don't like to think of education as simply preparation for future employment, but I just like that the video shows a unique view of education that is less thought of.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=x78PnPd-V-A
We tend to think of education in terms of the students and learners. In other words, we advocate for education because the learner benefits from the learning. This video takes a bit of a different spin on things, in a way which I had never really given much thought to. He suggests that education is not necessarily for the benefit of the student, but rather for the benefit of society as a whole. We pay education taxes and support education in other ways because students learning things has the potential to make our lives better.
If we are not educating our students properly and inspiring them to continue learning and discovering, who will be the scientist to put humans on mars? Which doctor will discover the cure for breast cancer? Which composer will be the next Beethoven? Or who will discover a method of making microwave pizza so that it actually has a crispy crust? (Suggestion courtesy of the man in the video.) If we do not inspire our students to be lifelong learners, these things may be impossible.
As I mentioned in my first blog, we are preparing students for the future, not the present. We are not training them for jobs, but rather helping them to become lifelong thinkers and learners so that they may thrive in an environment that we cannot even imagine today. To think of it in terms of this video, we are preparing our students to be beneficial for the future of our society so that we might all have better lives.
Just thought this was an interesting way to think about education in general.
Post your thoughts in the comments.
(P.S. Please note that I don't like to think of education as simply preparation for future employment, but I just like that the video shows a unique view of education that is less thought of.)
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