Blog #4

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Should Students Use Wikipedia?

By: Rhett Allian

            This article titled Should Student Use Wikipedia by Rhett Allian talks about how Wikipedia might be beneficial to students. The article begins with a fake conversation between a student and a teacher. The conversation talks about how students think that all teachers hate Wikipedia. Then the article looks at a few sample pages on Wikipedia to discover if it is a trustworthy and creditable website to use. This article is mostly based on the author’s opinion. The author talks about how he does not believe that Wikipedia is evil and is actually a tool. Allian feels that using Wikipedia is just like using a textbook. Even though there can be some untrue things on Wikipedia, he feels that Wikipedia has grown and become more aware of this problem. Allian believes that many teachers don’t want their students to use Wikipedia because it will make the assignments to easy. However he believes that’s it depends on the learning goals of the assignment. He states that if the goal of learning is to process and synthesize information then Allian feels that Wikipedia is okay to use. Allian then uses a simile to describe the use of Wikipedia. He uses the example of long division. Why would kids want to do long division if they can just use a calculator?

Q: What examples of issues have you observed in your own experience?

A: In my school career many of my teachers would never allow me to use Wikipedia as a source in my projects. My teachers made me believe that Wikipedia is not a creditable source. If any student used Wikipedia as a source in one of their projects they would get marked down a lot. My teachers told the students that anyone could go on Wikipedia and change the information. I believe that the point Wikipedia was trying to make by allowing people to change the information was to have people help one another and share information that they might know that wasn’t on there before. Unfortunately many people abused this power and wrote stupid and immature things. I feel like Wikipedia can be a valuable resource for students as long as the teacher can check to make sure all of the information is creditable.

Q: How will the issue help or hinder your teaching practice? Why?

            A: I would probably allow my students to use Wikipedia as a source for their projects. However, I would have to check myself to make sure all of the information is correct. If I was teaching at a middle school or high school level I would probably not allow my student to use Wikipedia because I feel they could use strong sources like journal or newspaper articles.

Blog #3

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The Most Important Education Technology in 200 Years

By Antonio Regaldo

           In the article The Most Important Education Technology in 200 years by Antonio Regaldo talk about how online education can affect learning. The author of this article asks the reader what they think the biggest innovation in education is. The author introduces Anant Agarwal, the computer scientist named this year to head edX. He believes that it is rare to see huge technological advances in how people learn. Agarwal also believes that education is going change dramatically. Technology is very powerful and now it is possible to stream video classes with interactive elements. These new technology elements can help make teaching more efficient and effective. Technology is going to determine what is going to happen in education in the future.

 

Q1: What is your opinion of the issue in the article? Agree or disagree? Why?

     My opinion of this issue presented in this article is that online course can be beneficial to certain types of people. I do agree with the article that technology is changing education but I am not sure that online is the more beneficial thing for students. I feel that not everyone can learn in the most efficient way by just sitting in front of the computer. I understand that there are activities and games on the computer that can help you understand concepts but come learners need hand-on activities. I believe certain types of learners need to be in an actual classroom setting rather than just taking a class online.

 

Q2: How will the issue help or hinder student learning?

     I have taken one online course before. I didn’t struggle but I would have probably learned more and got more out of the class if it wasn’t online. We had lots of articles and watched lots of videos. We also had to read the book and lecture notes every week. We did not have any videos of lecture so I had to under the topics on my own. I did not have the benefit of having a teaching to explain a concept. I would probably not be able to take an online math course or science course because I would not be able to understand the concepts on my own. I would need to do hand-on activities to be able to understand the specific concepts.

Blog #2

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Online School Grades

By SUE SHELLENBARGER

Summary

In this article the columnist asked teachers this question,regarding your column on online grading systems that enable parents to check their children’s grades, homework and attendance: What do teachers think of these systems? Most of the responses that she got were that the teachers like it if it works smoothly and helps students learn. One of the teachers Shellenbarger interviewed was a math teacher named Bill Erneste. Erneste has been a math teacher for 20 years and he says that an advantage of this system of grade over paper grade books “is that parents and teachers are communicating without even a phone call.” Erneste also likes to post links of instructional material to help students so they can use it at home. Shellenbarger also found out that teachers think online grading makes it easier to collaborate and share lots of information. However, some teachers like that posting grades and assignments online is a burden.  Most of these teachers are inexperience educators who need more time to spend planning lessons and managing their classrooms. Shellenbarger also discovered that parents often misuse the system. Many parents try to micromanage their children’s work or overacting to mistakes teachers have made. This puts a lot of works and stress for teachers. Teachers also said that more problems happen when the schools use multiple programs that don’t always share data so the teachers have to enter the same data more than once.

Q1: What is your opinion of the issue in the article? Agree or disagree? Why?

A: In my opinion I feel like online grading systems would be a helpful tool for teacher, parents, and students. I do see the points of both the teachers for it and against it. However I feel like even though there are disadvantages to the online systems the advantages out weight the bad. I think it would help teachers get the grades figured out faster since the computer would be doing the all of the math instead of the teacher. I also think it is good for students and parents because they can always look and see what their grade is. I also agree with some of the teacher response that if is a good way for teachers and parents to communicate without having to pick up the phone. Even if a teacher isn’t that experience with computers, they can also learn how to use it because I feel like it is a great advantage. I will be using this online system in my classroom.

Blog #1

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Using iPads With Mixed-Ability Students, Teachers Must ‘Give Up Some Control’

Summary

The article titled Using iPads With Mixed-Ability Students, Teachers Must ‘Give Up Some Control’ tries to prove that using iPads in the classroom will benefit the students in a tremendous way. Two teachers, Amanda Allen and David Lopez introduced the iPad to a school in Los Angelos. According to Lopez, “Technology is too powerful not to use.” Amanda and David created an experiment to see if the iPad is beneficial to students inside the classroom. They created a control group and an experimental group. One classroom using the iPad and the other classroom received traditional teaching. At first teachers were having problems getting used to the new technology. Amanda and David discovered that the iPad apps enhances the lesson plans, however it does loosen the control the teachers have compared to traditional teaching.

Q1: How will the issue help or hinder your teaching practice? Why?

After reading this article it gives me another teaching method to use with my students. Students in today’s world, even young children, are using technology every single day. I believe that incorporating technology in the lesson plans will get the students more engaged in the lesson, especially if the teacher is familiar with the technology. The only thing I would have concerns about before using this method would be that it would give the children to much control and freedom. If I used the iPad in my classroom one day I would have to make sure I knew how to properly handle the students so they don’t get out of hand. However, this might give the students a change to “teach” the teacher something that they know and the teacher does not know. I could see how older teacher would be skypetical of this new teaching method, but like David said “technology is too powerful not to use.” It is taking over our world.

Q2: What examples of issues have you observed in your own experience?

I have not experienced anything like this in my Kindergarten through 12th grade experience. Since this type of technology was just coming out this learning tool wasn’t even thought of to be used as a teaching tool. If I would have experience the use of Ipads in my classes it might have helped me learn and become more engaged in the course material. Since my generation is so used to technology like the iPad, it would make the class more fun and interesting.