Digital | Education with Technology Harry G. Tuttle

Archive for the 'Digital' Category

Use any Web 2.0 tool at any Level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, Don’t be Limited by Listings

I have been teaching for many years. In fact, one of my earliest presentations was on “Using Print Shop at All Levels of Bloom” (the original Print Shop). Therefore, whenever I see the listings that supposedly say what Web 2.0 tools works at what level of Bloom’s taxonomy, I become very confused. A few of the many such listings are http://www.usi.edu/distance/bloom%20pyramid.jpg, http://tsheko.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/visualblooms1.jpg?w=500&h=359, http://www.bcps.org/offices/lis/Reference/images/web_2_Bloom.jpg, and http://edtech2.boisestate.edu/candacemcenespy/Images/vectormap.gif There is only a very slight overlap among the listing, each usually puts the same Web 2.0 tools at different thinking levels.

Let’s look at Google docs which a few sites place at the lowest level of Bloom, Remember/Knowledge. Google docs can be used to help students recall information. However, it can just as easily be used to paraphrase the information (from the original Shakespeare to modern day texting messages), to apply/use information (How does Pareto’s 20/80 rule apply to this story? ), to analyzing/contrasting (How are these two poems the same? Different?), to evaluating (Which literature that we have read this year best expresses man’s inhumanity to man? Why?), and synthesize/creating (Write a short story in which you mock some modern day thinking or organization.)

Teachers determine how any Web 2.0 tool is used. They determine at what Bloom’s level they will use the Web 2.0 tool. If they want their students to be bigger thinkers, they will use the higher levels of Bloom. If the teachers want their students to remain in small thinking, they will use the lower levels.

The choice of what level to use any Web 2.0 is up to the teacher. At what level do you use each Web 2.0 tools? Do you consciously build up Bloom’s taxonomy with each different technology you use during a unit?

Tuttle’s formative assessment books: http://is.gd/tbook

Assessing Learning With Web 2.0: Videoconferencing

Published June 22, 2009 21st Century , Assess , Assessment , Digital , Learn , Rubric , Rubrics , Social networking , Web 2.0 4 Comments
Tags: 21st Century Skills, Assess, Assessment, Digital Age, Evaluate, Learn, Rubric, Rubrics, Skype, Social networking, Videoconference, Web 2.0

As students use Web 2.0 tools such as videoconferencing/Skype, etc. to interact with peers and experts, we need a tool to assess their learning. This digital age learning rubric focuses on expert videoconferencing.

Harry Tuttle's Web 2.0 Videoconferencing Rubric

My book, Formative Assessment: Responding to Students, is available through Eye-on-Education.

Digitizing part of book For Interactivity-Camera

Published May 17, 2008 Camera , Digital , digital camera , Image , Interactive , learning , Student , technology , technology integration Leave a Comment
Tags: Camera, Education, Image, Instruction, integration, Interactive, Power Point, technology

I have been taking some pictures of the class textbook so that I can project the image and then mark it up. I copy a speech and then we go through and identify how the speaker has introduced, given evidence, and concluded. Yesterday we went through an information speech and the students focused on every mention of an expert (person, book, or professional organization) to show that the speech has been built on facts. It took me about three minutes to take the pictures, move them over to my computer, do a simply crop, and save as a .gif file to put into the PowerPoint. It is a simple technique if you do not have a document camera, if you do not have a scanner, and if you are too lazy to retype the whole three page entry.

Digital Classroom – Technology Rich or Technology Poor

Published February 27, 2008 21st Century , 21st Century Skills , Class , Classroom , Digital , Digital Divide , technology , technology integration , Web , Web 2.0 3 Comments
Tags: Class, Computer, Computer Use, Digital Divide, Education, School, technology, technology integration, Technology Poor

In one room that I teach I have a desktop and an LCD. Not even a printer. It is very difficult to be a Web 2.0 class when there are not computers for students. It is hard to be a Web 1.0 when I just have the one computer. There is no Smartboard, no clickers, or nor other interactive technologies. I’m the only interactive technology. The Tech Director had to modify settings to allow me to use programs like YouTube. There are two log-ins. Sometimes technology is almost too difficult to use.

Yes, I do use technology in class but it takes effort to figure out how to do it interactively. Students answer questions in turn instead of individually answering questions like they would do if they had their own computers. Students cannot move at their own pace, they move in -lock step. Students cannot take online quizzes to measure their progress.

Let’s get rid of digital divide! Let’s harness the power for learning that technology brings to the classroom.

Improving Reading Skills With Technology

Published August 20, 2007 Achievement , Digital , ELA , English , ESL , Flickr , Language , learning , Power Point , PowerPoint , Read , Reading , technology , technology integration Leave a Comment

I wrote another article on improving reading skills through technology, Ramping Up Reading With Technology. There are fourteen different easy-to-apply techniques. Try these out in your classroom so that your students can be better readers! Although the examples are in English, many of these will work in ESL and World Language classes.

Digital Divide in the USA WiFi Spots

Published July 19, 2007 $100 computer , 21st Century Skills , Access , Digital , Divide , Hotspot , Internet , WiFi Leave a Comment

We talk about the digital divide between the USA and third world nations. However, there is a huge digital divide within our country. Here’s an example. Ithaca in the Southern Tier area of New York state with about 30,000 people has over 50 wifi spots (mostly free) according to CNETs Hotspot zone. On the other hand, Pulaski in the northern Tughill Plateau area of New York state, with about 2, 3000 people has no hotspot within 12 miles of the city. It is not just inner city that belongs to the digital divide. Rural parts of the state also do.

As educators we must urge all governments (cities and small towns) to offer hotspots for people. Our youth need the opportunity to get on the Web and use the wonderful educational resources especially if their parent(s) cannot afford Internet in the home. The students need to have nearby places in their community where they can go to get on. Twelve miles is not nearby. Not only libraries and governmental offices (what about the Post Office which almost each area has?) but also businesses and museums should offer free hotspots. Let each community be proud of how many hotspots it offers.

We get excited about how the $100 computer can help children in Third World nations. What are we doing to help the children in our own country, state, and region who are denied access to the Internet?

Digital Storytelling or Digital Reports?

Published April 8, 2007 Digital , Learn , Storytelling Leave a Comment

In education we rename things and assume that they are better just because we have a new name for them. Digital Storytelling is one of those things. Cave people created visual stories on their cave walls and rocks. Many”ancient” civilizations such as the Mayans have left visual histories. There have been oral storytellers forever. Many of the old stories explained our relation to our universe and explained how we came to be the people that we are today. Today we put sound with pictures in a digital format and we call it digital storytelling.
I would argue that many currently student produced “digital storytelling” projects are digital reports, not stories. They report history from a third person non-subjective non-personal viewpoint. There is no personal voice. There is no story. Most supposed historical “digital storytelling” that I’ve listened to do not show the impact of the past on the students’ present lives (How has our community been impacted by the actions of our “ancestors”?). They simply reported history such as that from a textbook or encyclopedia. The students spent many hours in preparing their story. Is it an effective use of student learning time? (Yes, they are learning to produce something digitally and to develop their presentation skills or 21st century skills but are they learning content to a deeper or more comprehensive manner? If students who produced “digital stories” and those who studied the same historical events from a textbook took the same higher thinking level based assessment, would the digital storytellers score higher?)

If a student told his real ancestors’ story such as the story of a young married English couple who had to fight off wolves to survive in the wilderness of Canada (my great grandparents), that student would be a digital storyteller. Real people, real struggles, real history, real personal relationships to that history, real digital storytelling.

Are your students doing digital reports or digital storytelling? Are they learning the standard more in-depth and more comprehensively through their “digital storytelling”?

—–

Open Education Resources as Digital Inclusion

Published April 1, 2007 Digital , Inclusion , Open Source 2 Comments

At SITE Dr. Resta stressed that digital inclusion can take place when there are open educational resources that all can afford. He mentioned these categories:

Digital Library such as Merlot

Open Courseware such as MIT, and UNESCO

Free and Open Source such as OpenOffice (Office equal), GIMP (Photoshop equal), and Tux Paint (KidPix equal),

Creative Commons license so that all can use the material such as CC in Flickr.

Another speaker, Dr. Stuckart of Wanger University, mentioned that the $100 computer is another effort at digital inclusion.

Another speaker stressed that Moodle, Sakai, Joomla,and Carolina are content management systems that are free.

Another speaker, Sean McKay, emphasized that free Edubuntu educational package is available in a multitude of languages. He also mentioned the free open source programs of NVU (Dreamweaver equal), Scribus (desktop publishing), and FireFox (web browser).

So what do your students produce that will help students in other parts of the world? How do your students use open source software to collaborate with students in other parts of the world?

——————-

Digital Divide – Digital Inclusion – Knowledge Divide

Published March 30, 2007 collaboration , Digital , Diversity , Divide , Global , Inclusion , Knowledge Leave a Comment

Education with Technology Harry G. Tuttle