Inquiry is a Disposition

Inquiry is a Disposition- it’s about how you think about the topics you teach

This was one of the first points our guest speaker, Neil Stephenson (http://www.thinkinginmind.com) discussed in class today. This quote has been sticking with me for two reasons. First, because I spent an overwhelming amount of time during my first semester in the MT program looking the easy answer or idiot’s guide for inquiry. It took me awhile to realize that there is no easy answer and inquiry is not easy.

The second reason this quote stuck with me is because I appreciate when a great quote can be used to describe a great big idea - and Neil certainly has a gift for using quotes.

The low hanging fruit of technology use in the classroom

I know I am guilty of this. Having the students use laptops for research and then Power Point to present their findings. Is this the best or most effective use of technology in the classroom?

I really would like to find out more about Davis Jardine’s work regarding education and technology and the “if you want to” mentality.

Neil also spoke about a danger with technology – it is easy for it to become the focus of a task. The focus needs to be directed to the ideas.

The suit doesn’t swim itself

Technology doesn’t teach the children.

One of the concerns I have heard expressed is that technology is going to do away with teachers or dramatically increase the size of classrooms and decrease the number of teachers needed. I wasn’t ever too concerned about this until a came across a TED talk by Sugata Mitra.

Take a look….. http://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html

Maybe I don’t understand Mitra’s work completely, but in my mind there is no meaningful learning happening in the examples shown in his presentation. Those children may be able to regurgitate what they seen on the screen, and they certainly are not knowledge producers. It would be interesting to revisit those children Mitra worked with and ask what they remembered. My guess is that they wouldn’t remember much.

I am interested to know what others think about this.

What Do I Think?

In today's SIPS class we had to guest presentations.  I really enjoyed the presentations because first of all we had a demonstration of what the Student Showcases could look like.

Our first presentation was from Kate (a 2010 graduate of the MT program).  Kate's presentation was on the uses of  Google Docs.  I don't really know how to pick three things I am excited about learning from her presentation because I knew nothing about Google Docs prior to her visit.  I am excited about getting on to Google Docs and become more comfortable with it.  My Great Task group is already planning to use it compile our ideas.

I really wish I new about this last year!

Our second presenter was D'Arcy.  D'Arcy spoke to the university class about a digital story telling.  In addition to the university students the class has been places on the internet and anyone interested can participate for free (of course they will not receive credit).  What is also interesting is the participants submit ideas for assignments and some are chosen as a class assignment. What I was most intrigued by is the number of people participating in this assignment for their own enjoyment.  I think this is something worth looking at.  The logistics of this type of credit university course kind of confuses me.  I am more interested in checking back in with this course and see if the number of active participants increases or decreases.

One more thing to remember!

I figured out how to change the email account your blog is attached to.  There may be a different way, but this worked for me.

Go under settings and add the new email address as an author. Next give that new author admin privileges.  Next if you like you can delete the old email address.

Reflecting On Technology

What are my strengths and learning needs when it comes to inquiry and ICT?

I think a strength I have with technology and inquiry is that I am open learning more about the appropriate use of technology and I strongly believe in the benefits.  I have seen how my students engage with technology and how it impacts their learning experiences.

Another strength I have is I am will to experiment with new and unfamiliar, programs, software, and equipment.  Although I have experience with a variety of form of technology I only have a basic understanding.

Personally I use technology every day and regularly throughout the day.  I became aware of how important communication through the internet and access to information was in my life just this last Christmas when I spent time with family that did not have the internet in their home. 

My interest and knowledge of educational technology.

I feel fairly comfortable using a SMART board and Notebook.   I regularly used the Notebook templates and adapted them especially for math and language arts.  However, I absolutely feel as though I need to know more and I am interested in learning more.

I have also used Prezi, Glogster, Inspiration, and iWeb as learning tools in the classroom.  Just as I mentioned above I am only beginning to understand these tools and I am not as comfortable using them as I would like.

What interests me with learning with technology?

I found myself monopolizing the laptop cart with my student teaching and I often found myself asking these questions: 

Was using technology appropriately?

Was I over using technology?  Is it possible to over use technology?

Was I just replacing a pen and paper with a laptop?  Does that matter if the students are more comfortable with a laptop?

Have I prepared the students enough to be exploring the internet?

What more could I be doing?

What else is “out there”?

I think my personal learning goal for this class is to increase my level of comfort with using technology, to understand meaningful ways and approaches for using technology for inquiry, and to be aware of potential pitfalls and mistakes when planning and using technology for inquiry.