http://www.newsweek.com/id/70983/output/print

Article Title: The Future of Reading

As the time left of my Thanksgiving break is dwindling quickly, I squeezed in some time last night to read the latest Thomas Perry novel that I picked up from the local library. At the same time, my husband sits at his desk browsing through the ebooks he has been downloading this week. We talk about the differences in what we read, he skims articles about photography while I sit curled up with a work of fiction.

This particular article is a device being offered by Amazon to bring together the best of both worlds. It is a device called the Kindle, which will allow users to download books to it so that they can read whatever is of interest to them.  Here is a description of the device:  The Kindle (named to evoke the crackling ignition of knowledge) has the dimensions of a paperback, with a tapering of its width that emulates the bulge toward a book’s binding. It weighs but 10.3 ounces, and unlike a laptop computer it does not run hot or make intrusive beeps. A reading device must be sharp and durable, Bezos says, and with the use of E Ink, a breakthrough technology of several years ago that mimes the clarity of a printed book, the Kindle’s six-inch screen posts readable pages. The battery has to last for a while, he adds, since there’s nothing sadder than a book you can’t read because of electile dysfunction. (The Kindle gets as many as 30 hours of reading on a charge, and recharges in two hours.) And, to soothe the anxieties of print-culture stalwarts, in sleep mode the Kindle displays retro images of ancient texts, early printing presses and beloved authors like Emily Dickinson and Jane Austen.”  One can change the font size, too, for ease of reading.

The cost of the device is $400, and books can cost up to $9.99.  The most appealing part of this device to me is that I could carry around 200 books in something the size of a paperback book.  I know the way technology is, the price will come down dramatically in the next year.

If price were no object, would you buy one?  Why or why not?

Source:  http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/2007/11/16/conversation-with-pre-service-teachers-teacher-as-learner/

In this blog post, the author discusses his approach to “giving up”the role of the authoritarian teacher and showing his students that he is still a learner, too.  It does require an interesting bit of psychology.  A teacher does not want to give up the sense that they are knowledgeable of their subject matter, but at the same time, they want to encourage students to learn by modeling the behavior of a learner.  His approach of showing that he is willing to learn more about his own subject area would work well in most instances.  It is a hard balance to achieve, as most of the respondents to this blog entry indicated, and it does require us teachers to let students know something about us personally.

I am the kind of teacher who loves to attend workshops and conferences as part of my continued learning.  I let my students know that I am still learning things.  I talk with them about the classes that I am taking, math activities that I have found on the web, and so on.  What I have learned as a fairly new teacher is that if the students don’t make a personal connection with you of some sort, they are far less likely to put their efforts into learning what you have to offer.

I have begun my wiki this week.  I got an account at www.wikispaces.com.  It has been very easy to use, if anyone needs a site to subscribe to, this one is very nice.

I have about ten links to math sites to add to my page, then I will begin to work on my idea of getting other schools to collaborate.

I was browsing through the OLDaily entries and found this one about math textbooks which is very alarming.  Basically, there are an unreal amount of computational errors in the texts being reviewed for adoption in 2008.  I wonder if they are just clerical or if textbook authors are this careless.

Source:  http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/111607dntextextbooks.268c6c7.html

http://www.e-mentor.edu.pl/_xml/wydania/21/467.pdf

Title: “In Search of Student-Generated Content in Online Education” by John Sener

I picked this article because it connects topics we have discussed this semester, such as student-centered learning, online education, constructivism, and connectivism. The concept the author is researching is student-generated products as it relates to online education. Although the author finds little on this topic, he does site some great examples of student generated work from educational institutions, things like journal articles, podcasts, and encyclopedias.

He brings up a really good point that even though student-generated products are beneficial to the learning of the student, most educational practices still support the lecture and learn approach. Hopefully, with the success of programs like Web 2.0 and its tools, the educational community can be swayed into investing the time in the student-centered learning approach.

The article also points out the negative reasons why student-centered learning is not catching on: cost and lack of motivation of students. He brings out the point that by switching to a student-generated product, more work is placed on the student and less on the instructor. Many students are happy with the status quo, you lecture and I will learn.

The article ends on a very positive note discussing the prosumer.  This is a student who produces the educational product, and then consumes it.  It sounds good on the surface, but putting it into best practice is going to be time consuming.  Only time will tell if this idea catches on…

If I were selecting a topic to research for distance education, it would be how to prepare teachers to be good online instructors. Based on my experience with this class, the instructor needs to know their content, various means of communication (email, blogs, wikis, podcasts), how to create relevant assignments using technology, how to guide students into learning the new technology, and how to assess student learning and how often to give assessments.  The instructor needs to be available so students can correspond as needed.  The instructor needs to know where to find applicable articles and resources, and they need to keep things current.  There needs to be a flow of thoughts from students to show their comprehension.  There needs to be a good communication network in place for students to correspond with each other.

With secondary teachers, learning tends to be in the form of professional development or conferences.  At the post-secondary level, I think that professors tend to teach themselves or collaborate with colleagues to make this work. Whatever the means of learning, I believe that it is important to know how to be effective.

In reviewing the chapter in Kearsley’s book on research, I found that one component of his research that was evident in each example of distance learning was student success (grades, motivation, amount learned). In the course evaluations, students learned as much as and sometimes more than in traditional courses. In one case, the students in the online course covered more material. As students gain more experience with online courses, they gain confidence in using technology and are more adept at learning at higher levels. One specific example in the text of student success was the Co-Nect project. Students involved in this project had gains in statewide assessments, fewer discipline issues, took more ownership in their learning, and had more parent involvement. These are all things that I would like to see with my students. Kearsley brings out the point that certain types of students and certain types of teachers are better suited to online education. I think that once students and teachers master basic technology skills, the advantages of online learning can take place.

1. For my final project, I propose to make a wiki that will be useful for math teachers. My wiki will be a tutorial of how a math teacher can integrate technology successfully in the classroom. I will use techniques that we have learned this semester, such as setting up blogs, working with TappedIn, gator feeds, net tools, and links to math sites and discussion groups which will be useful in teaching new concepts. The primary audience will be middle and high school teachers. My motivation for creating this wiki is from talking to other math teachers at conferences and how much they love attending because of getting new resources and ideas.  The way that I will know that it is working is that I am going to invite teachers to have their students join my students in working on collaborative projects.  I am going to also set up a blog where everyone can share their experiences.

I was searching through this week’s entries at OLDaily and found this link to tools.

http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2007/11/bestoftheweb-my-most-useful-tools.html

If you have not read through the Cool Cat Teacher blog, you should take the time to do so.  This blog keeps up with current issues and has great discussion and information.

1. Does the global nature of the web have an effect on evaluation? Yes, I believe that the increase in access to information has affected evaluation. With the graduate classes I have taken that required research papers, I used a lot of online journal articles and web pages as resources. Ten years ago, I would have used what was in the university library, so the availability of information has changed. Also, I think the nature of assignments has changed because of the web. Instructors have more access to resources, and therefore, can create more varied projects.
2. Are the goals and objectives changed when you take a course online compared to classroom based instruction? I believe that some goals and objectives have changed with online classes.  Communication which normally occurred as dialogue in the classroom is now in the form of discussion boards, blogs, podcasts, and emails.  It is like getting a participation grade for attending a regular class versus submitting a certain number of postings online.  Other goals and objectives remain the same in some courses, such as tests and final projects.