Students Build Technology Skills and Support NETS-S Through Use of Web 2.0 Applications

Today’s students learn in an educational system that is working to develop key skills that will make students marketable and productive citizens in an ever increasingly digital world.  The basics of the 3R’s of generations past have been replaced with standards and benchmarks that cover every subject a student studies at every grade level in their educational career.  Technology has not been left out of this mix.  Students now are expected to master skills, such as, communication, collaboration and digital publishing which are all part of a set of national technology standards called the National Educational TechnologyStandards for Students (NETS-S) (NETS for Students 2007, 2007).  These important skills can be practiced and honed in our classrooms thanks to a number of educational web 2.0 tools now available to teachers all over the world. 

Communication has changed in today’s classroom.  Historically, classrooms included students who waited for a question from the teacher and then students raised their hand (or didn’t) to answer the question.  Teachers in those days heard from only a small fraction of what their class was thinking about.  Students today live in a world swamped with communication in all types of formats.  Teachers today can support the NETS-S standards by using web 2.0 tools like Edmodo and Padlet to give students another way to respond to questions.  Both of these digital tools are great examples of educational back channels, or using technology to provide a voice to students without interrupting class or after the school day has ended (Holland, 2014).  Edmodo (About Edmodo, 2014) is a platform that has the look of a social media website, but really is a technology tool for teachers to deliver information and questions to students and provides a delivery method for students to respond back to the teacher and his or her classmates.  Padlet (Padlet, 2014), is another web 2.0 tool that teachers have found useful as a communication tool for students.  This virtual “board” allows a student to pin messages on it about topics being discussed in class, etc. 

Collaboration is another NETS-S skill being supported through web 2.0 tools.  More than ever before, students can collaborate in real time without even being in the same building.  Two excellent tools for this include the nonlinear presentation tool, Prezi and a free resource from Google, called Google Docs.  Student’s ability to collaborate from afar is something that they will apply in a real world career type of setting so acquiring these skills in school is an advantage.  Prezi has an environment where students can work on their parts of a presentation in real time with classmates and bring the presentation all into one (Prezi, 2014).  Google docs is a more open resource when it comes to sharing.  These tools range from word processing and spreadsheets to digital presentations and drawing applications all of which allow students to creatively collaborate using the tool that best fit their needs. 

Publishing is a NETS-S skill that is not new to education, but publishing has become far easier in the digital world.  Web tools like Google Blogger and Wikispaces now allow students to author their own content and allow for a place to publish their content to share with the world.  The idea that anyone in the world could read your authored work creates a very different writing approach than writing something that only your teacher will likely see for grading purposes.  Students are more likely to put more effort into their writing when being published for the entire world vs. just their teacher and classmates.  Allowing students to publish themselves using a blog or a website is a great way to refine the writing process and incorporate student to student editing. 

These resources and numerous other web 2.0 tools are available for teachers to integrate into the topics of study.  Most of these tools are generic enough that they could apply across grade levels, content areas, etc.  The NETS-S standards were written to support all K-12 teachers, but more importantly to support students in acquiring the skills necessary to be a critical part of our society and culture well after their K-12 education has come to an end. 

References:

About Edmodo. (2014). Retrieved June 7, 2014, from Edmodo: https://www.edmodo.com/about?language=en

NETS for Students 2007. (2007). Retrieved June 7, 2014, from www.ISTE.org: http://www.iste.org/standards/standards-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007

Padlet. (2014). Retrieved June 7, 2014, from Padlet: http://www.padlet.com

Prezi. (2014). Retrieved June 7, 2014, from Prezi: http://www.prezi.com

Holland, B. (2014, May 21). The Backchannel: Giving Every Student a Voice in the Blended Mobile Classroom. Retrieved June 3, 2014, from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/backchannel-student-voice-blended-classroom-beth-holland

Review of Project Based Learning (PBL) Exemplars - EDIM 502 (u01a1)

Project based learning (PBL) is nothing new to education and it isn't a program that a teacher can buy and implement in their classroom.  PBL is a philosophy that student learning can take place if a teacher believes in providing real world, hands on experiences in their classroom. 

Through the educational website, Edutopia, I was able to examine three exemplary PBL projects that highlighted how PBL can succeed in different parts of the United States and in different grades and subject matters. 

I have referenced these projects in the citations below, but I wanted to highlight some of my observations of these classroom environments. 

It is clear that one of the important pieces to a successful PBL learning environment involves the students being included in the choices of what is being studied.  This choice is important because it generates high levels of “buy in” from students who may otherwise be questioning the content they are being told they must learn.  The design of these learning environments is also based on students being involved in high interest topics that shows application to the content they will be or have learned.  This application to the real world is a critical piece to PBL, because it allows students to experience the “why” when it comes to learning (Armstrong, 2002).  It also adds the necessary seasoning that may be needed for content that on its own may be quite boring to students.  Not only is application to the real world important, but application to the student’s world is important (Curtis, March of the Monarchs: Students Follow the Butterflies' Migration, 2002).  If they can connect their learning to their own world, it goes a long way in retention of that concept or information.

The use of and access to experts in the field of study is another commonality among these PBL exemplars.  Bringing in experts helps students experience how these individuals can play a critical role in acquiring information or finding answers (Curtis, More Fun Than a Barrel of . . . Worms?!, 2001). 

A final piece that was evident in all of the PBL exemplars was the use of multiple forms of assessment.  Teachers who use PBL offer students different ways to show off their expertise.  This helps students see that in the real world, solving problems and wrestling with issues is assessed on multiple levels and by many different stakeholders. 

The role of the teacher and students is different in a PBL experience than a more traditional learning environment.  The PBL teachers in these exemplars all talked about how this isn’t less work, it’s just that the work shifts.  PBL educators understand that in this environment, planning time and effort increases while “in class” responsibilities often shift.  Teachers using PBL are more of a facilitator than the traditional teacher with all the answers.  PBL environments drive home to students that questions are good and its ok if teachers don’t have all the answers (Curtis, More Fun Than a Barrel of . . . Worms?!, 2001).  Student’s experiences are very different in PBL environments as well.  Students find themselves having to work very collaboratively with other classmates and realize that teamwork is key to succeeding in a project based world.  Students also learn that one team member doesn’t have all the knowledge or skills to complete the project.  It often takes different skill sets for a team to be successful.

In a PBL environment, teachers find that student engagement almost always increases.  Student choice certainly helps that, but the fact that students are getting to work on something relevant and meaningful to their own world sparks interest, curiosity and a drive to want to impress those who are viewing their work (Armstrong, 2002). 

Students today, like adults of today, are careful consumers of information.  There is a lot of information out there and it must be relevant to our lives for us to take the time to really invest in learning it.  This is why PBL can be so successful with today’s students.  PBL gives them the opportunity to work with content and topics they are interested in and it offers them a chance to see how this content impacts their own lives. 

Citations:

Armstrong, S. (2002, February 11). Geometry Students Angle into Architecture Through Project Learning. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/geometry-real-world-students-architects 

Curtis, D. (2001, October 1). More Fun Than a Barrel of . . . Worms?! Retrieved May 11, 2014, from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/more-fun-barrel-worms

Curtis, D. (2002, June 6). March of the Monarchs: Students Follow the Butterflies' Migration. Retrieved May 11, 2014, from Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/march-monarchs