Clay Shirky Review

When I saw these videos posted as part of this week's assignment, I was very excited. In the spring of 2009, I read the book "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations." From the first chapter I was fascinated at how this new form of interaction and socializing works. It was great to see and hear him say these things and expand on them in these videos.

The first video on Institutions vs. Collaboration was directly from his book. He wrote about some of the same sites (Meetup and Flickr) and used some of these same examples. It was interesting to me to see the chart that he used to show the distribution of contributors to Flickr. He did talk about it and there may have been a chart in the book but seeing it on screen and hearing him talk about it drove the point home. Don't we sometimes see the same thing in our classes? Usually there is a small group of people that answer most of the questions while others only answer one or two, even though they know the answer.

If you noticed, at the beginning of the video it was date stamped 2005. 2005! That was 5 years ago. Many of us are just now coming around to understanding and using the technology that he was talking about 5 years ago. Much of this seems new to us but in terms of technology, it is actually quite old.

The other video is more recent, from summer 2009. There was one comment that really stands out to me and it was mentioned briefly in his book. He basically said that people who are good conversation are not good at creating groups and those good at creating groups are not good at conversation. How true. When I talk to younger people (18-24) many of them are great at social media and groups but have a hard time with a conversation. They don't like to look you in the eye and talk to you. On the other hand, I can sit with people and talk to them but do not understand or necessarily like the whole social media movement. It takes away the personal connection you get when you talk to someone in person.

The other key point that he brought up was that everyone is a consumer and a producer. This has never been more true than now. If you look at technology items on the market now, they are all multi-functional. They allow you to not only watch a video but also record, edit, and publish one from a single device.

Clay Shirky talks about some very interesting topics. I look forward to hearing more from him.

Online Tools Review

The first tool I reviewed was bubbl.us. I found this product very simple and easy to use. The product the user can produce is a neat and clean map. Its simplicity is also its worst feature. It does not have the ability to add graphics to the design. While this is not always necessary it would be a nice feature.

The next tool was Mindmeister. This product was also very easy to use and produced nice, clean maps. The basic account is limited in its features. Users can only create and share up to 3 maps. By upgrading to the premium account, users get the ability to upload and use files and images and can create maps offline. The cost for the premium account is $59/year.

The third site I checked out was Education Oasis. This site has a number of different graphic organizers that can be downloaded. These are not organizers that you can use online but rather files that can be downloaded. There are a quite a few different types of graphic organizers for many different uses. This is one tool that almost all teachers can use and they do not have to have the a lot of computer experience.

Objectives, Feedback, and Recognition

What kinds of technologies can I use to help students set objectives?

There are two tools that I use to help others set objectives. First, I like to introduce new technologies either using a PowerPoint or a short movie in combination with a verbal introduction. I also will provide a demonstration showing them what this new technology can do. This gets my teachers familiar with what my goals are by implementing this technology.

I can think of a time that I asked students to fill out a survey to provide feedback.

A survey is something I use on a regular basis and it is a process that everyone understands. I like to ask my teachers what they need from me to successfully use new technologies in the classroom. I then use that information to push their goals higher so they can provide a more meaningful experience for students. In general, this method works great. The teachers provide me with great feedback and, after knowing them for a few months, I know their technical abilities and can set goals for them accordingly.

What questions do I have about using technology to provide recognition?

I am not one who provides a lot of recognition unless someone is doing something extraordinary. In that case, I usually e-mail the person and may mention them in a staff meeting. I need to get better at recognizing when people reach their personal goals or do something that is outside of their normal technological abilities. These things happen quite often but I am not sure how to use technology to provide recognition.

Enhancing Learning Materials through Technology Week 2 Article Review

I read the article Focus on Effectiveness: Setting Objectives. The very first objective really opened my eyes. I have a tendency to set objectives that have a very narrow outcome. To me, the objective is only met if I reach the goal I set in my mind. It must be exactly how I want it or it is not successful. Now, what I want and what is successful may be two different things. I may be able to implement a program at my school and make it work without meeting every little goal in my mind.

I also do not allow students, or in my case teachers, enough time to adapt. I expect all of them to pick up new technologies quickly and do not have patience for those who cannot figure it out.

Again, I am not a very flexible person and expect everyone to understand things the way I do. I like to carefully plan things and when it does not go as planned I think it is not a success. Working on some of these objectives may help relieve stress in my job.

Enhancing Learning Materials through Technology Week 1

This week we were to read about learning and teaching principles. Two of these principles really stuck out to me.

The first was the learning principle stating that students' prior knowledge can help or hinder learning. I never really thought about that before but as soon as I read that title it made complete sense to me. Students do come into a situation with a certain knowledge and what they know influences how they interpret and react to the new ideas presented to them. The same is true in adults. In an adult, this prior knowledge makes it hard to teach them something different or new. When I have to teach a new technology to teachers, this prior knowledge and attitude keeps some of them from really taking their teaching skills to a new level.

That kind of leads into the next principle that I connected with. That principle states that effective teaching involves progressively refining courses based on reflection and feedback. Again, the prior knowledge principle comes into play. If a teacher is knowledgeable and comfortable in their lessons they sometimes do not feel the need to change. I know many teachers who would not change their lessons if they were not forced to use a new technique or technology in their classroom. Many of these teachers have been teaching the same way for years and have no interest in changing. I think it is important that teachers review their methods and lessons regularly and ask for feedback. Changing their approach and technique makes them more interesting to the many unique styles of student learning