I apologize for not writing more. I have been beyond busy during the past 15 weeks writing up research findings for my study. My goal is to hand in the first draft of my dissertation to my advisor next week. The study identifies specific advantages and limitations within which teachers' learning might be supported online, so needless to say, I am anxious to share the results with an edublogging audience.

Once I've received the green light from my advising team, I will begin to post chapters in pdf form here in Eduspaces. I am also considering creating a wiki to house the final product to make the content more accessible to the public and open to social judgment and adjudication. There are scholars all over working on projects that could benefit more than their peers if they opened up their work to a larger audience using the freely available social media tools. I understand how funding for research and scholarship works and that you cannot always have your cake and eat it too. So in the spirit of seeking balance, I will do what I can to always make my scholarly efforts public.

 I have also been quite busy developing content for a course I am teaching this fall titled Integrating Technology into the Secondary Curriculum. I have two sections of 16 and 22 undergraduate education minors finishing up their careers in college. Some are truly gung-ho and interested in teaching and learning. Others less so, but are willing to play along in the name of learning something new about themselves. I was hoping to share more of what is going on in these classes in this space, but with course preparation and the dissertation, my attention is needed in the latter.

In the meantime, I have not completely fallen off the map. The wonderful bits of minutiae that I find in my travels I have been posting to my Tumblr blogs.  So in the spirit of Friday, I give you a literal translation of A-ha's famous pop fodder Take On Me. Cheers!

I enjoyed reading this article, Connecting informal and formal learning: Experiences in the age of participatory media, by Bull, et al. (2008) from CITE -- a journal that focuses on technology and teacher education.

While it is true, schools and teachers are limited by a number of factors associated with an academic enterprise, the gist of the authors' argument can be boiled down to this key sentence:

Gen-Y teacher education students who are developing pedagogical and content knowledge can serve as collaborators in determining methods for adapting emergent social media and communications technologies to classroom use.

The authors of this editorial suggest that in working with teacher education students who are more familiar with social media, today's teacher educators can become better equipped to meet the demands of a media-rich participatory culture.They conclude with the following statement:

The informal learning that occurs in the context of participatory media offers significant opportunities for increased student engagement in formal learning settings. The experience with communication technologies that teenagers today possess must be tapped by educators and connected to pedagogy and content, however, in order to address learning objectives in schools. Teacher education faculty members are experienced in this arena. We are currently at a moment in time in which the current and next generation of educators each can make a genuine contribution by working together." (Bull, et al, 2008).

I found this paragraph to be both awkwardly worded and perhaps easily taken out of context. I agree with the way the authors start by noting that students' background knowledge of social media is a great resource to tap to build new knowledge and understanding. My problem comes with the statement:

Teacher education faculty members are experienced in this arena.

I would like to see the research to back this up. Are the authors referring to educational technology professors when they say "teacher education faculty members?" Based on my experience working in a college of education and with teacher education professionals from other institutes, corporations, colleges and universities, the number of teacher education faculty members experienced in collaborating with their students using technology is perhaps a tenth of a percent of the number of teacher educators practicing today. That is to say, use and affordances of social media are clearly documented in the literature and on the Web, but the question remains: are teacher educators and pre-service teachers facile with this knowledge and content?

More than simply using Internet and communication technologies in the classroom because (a) they are a part of education standards and (b) because the kids are using them, it is more critical for educators to understand not only what should be taught, why is it important, and how should this knowledge be organized, but also

• How does learning connect to what goes on outside the classroom?
• What kinds of things and people might learners want to be in contact with in order to learn?
• And how can students, teachers, parents see if learning is effective?

I guess from my position as a teacher educator I am concerned about some of the ways I still see and hear how technology is still considered a disruption in the negative, resource-soaked sense, rather than as a disruption that allows us to re-think what we are doing as educators. Not that the Bull, et al. (2008) article paints integrating technology in a negative sense; I guess it saddens me that the Bull article still needs to be written in the first place, reminding many of us that the train (to use an historical and paradoxically-charged metaphor) has left the station and that you still have an opportunity to hop on board. I suppose this trend in teacher education and technology integration articles will continue for some generations. And I suppose there will always be people like me asking similar questions hoping that one day we'll all get a little closer to where need to be.

References:

Article:
Bull, G., Thompson, A., Searson, M., Garofalo, J., Park, J., Young, C., & Lee, J (2008). Connecting informal and formal learning: Experiences in the age of participatory media. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 8(2). Retrieved 23 September 2008 from http://www.citejournal.org/vol8/iss2/editorial/article1.cfm

Photos:
top- via http://designyoutrust.com
bottom- http://www.artofmarkbryan.com

"The artist is the one who never gets it right." --Mose Allison

I am starting out a new school year teaching two sections of an undergraduate education course titled Integrating Technology into the Secondary Curriculum. The course is a requirement for those students minoring in education and who are thinking about teaching students at the secondary level (US grades 6-12; ages 11-18). As I work through putting together a meaningful experience for all involved, I will be sharing ideas, observations and reflections about the course, the students, and other items as they arise.

One item I am keen on sharing is a new weblog I've been working on. I have always wanted to write a book about metaphors associated with learning and teaching. The catch is, I didn't want to write it in the conventional sense. I wanted "the book" to be a jumping off point, a picture book, designed to spark conversation, reflection, and debate. I wanted the book to be fluid, dynamic, editable on the fly, allowing me to add images as I find them. Perhaps a wiki might be a better option in terms of organizing content in a more user friendly way. On the other hand, I like the notion of simply browsing and viewing images at random. Please let me know what you think.

Finally, I am happy to announce that I have outlined my dissertation and have begun the blissful task of writing up the first complete draft. I should have this completed in about six week. I am standing here beside myself with happiness and cannot wait to share the results with you. Stay tuned!

 Image: play station

Reference:
Hargreaves, A. (1994). Changing teachers, changing times: Teachers' work and culture in the post-modern age. New York: Teachers College Press.

The uni requires that I give an exam, so I thought I would share it with you all to see what you think. Erik and I are thinking of requiring one of these questions to be addressed by all participants, then having participants select two of their own choice to tackle. I have a rubric that I use to assess student's work here. If you're interested, let me know your thoughts. As always, I am amenable to suggestions.

EME2040 SumC Potential Exam Questions

1) Online identity management: are you managing your digital footprint?

Enter your name into three search engines (e.g., Google, Yahoo, Dogpile, Cuil).

    * What shows up?

    * Are you suprised?

    * What actions can you take to ensure that you do not leave to chance your online reputation and personal brand?


2) One current concept in contemporary education is 21st century skills.

Utilizing the your web-based search and information analysis capabilities, develop a personal working definition of 21st century skills, then describe your progress towards the attainment of these skills. What have you done in the last few years to add to your 21st century skill-set and what do envision doing in the future to continue to develop these skills?


3) Social Media and You

Utilizing the Internet, select and describe a freely available online application that would be useful for individuals in your 'field of choice'. Describe how you envision utilizing the application in a professional setting? Why is this application specifically relevant to your field of interest? What do current users of the application have to say about it's strengths and weaknesses?


4) Weekend at Bernie's

Using current examples from Internet, which should include links and references where appropriate, present a thoughtful structured argument for why you feel that the University of Florida is or is not the #1 party school in the nation.

5) Social Software Application Design

Facebook allows individuals and corporations to develop custom applications for Facebook users (eg: scrabulous, superpoke, funwall). If you were to design an application for Facebook, what would you design? Why is this application needed? Who would use this application?


6) Blogging as Journalism

Utilizing your Internet search skills, provide a brief synthesis of what bloggers are saying, pro and con, about the genetic modification of plants and/or animals to increase food supply in the United States and/or abroad. Provide a listing of the blogs that you visit and also verify the credentials of the bloggers who are posting. Identify a blogger who you feel is particularly well informed and has the credentials to make commentary on the topic (explain these credentials). Identify a blogger who you feel is not particularly well informed and does not have the credentials to make commentary on the topic (explain the lack of credentials).


7) Employment Screening

Employers have increasingly begun to use Web sites like MySpace.com and Facebook.com to screen applicants and current employees. Should employers be allowed to do this? Provide a thoughtful, detailed explanation of your thinking below. Be sure to articulate possible social, moral, legal, and ethical consequences of such actions.


8) What does it mean to be literate in the digital age?

Read the following article (NYT Literacy article) and reflect on the different arguments for and against reading books and reading online. Is there a clear correlation between the decline in reading test scores for teenagers and the increasing use of the Internet? Show evidence from the article in your response.


9) Social Media and Marketing

You work for a chain of gym and fitness centers that are ready to expand nationally.  Your boss has asked you to identify three strategies for using the Internet in the new advertising campaign. Your job is to select three ways you would incorporate the Internet into the campaign and then write a memo to your boss ranking them in priority from the most to least appropriate match for the campaign.  You need to clearly explain why you selected each particular strategy and what you think it brings to a national marketing campaign.


10) Serious Gaming

Neuromatrix is a new educational video game that's designed to teach people neuroscience. It's marketed to ages 9-15. The developer, Morphonix, writes that they "are developing a series of video games which make abstract concepts of brain science fun and comprehensible to children and teens. Many software games spur kids to use their brains, but this is the first series of video games which also teaches children the science of their brains." From the game description:

You play a secret agent infiltrating a top-secret neuroscience research facility. Your mission: to track down and root out the Nanobots that have invaded the brains of the scientists there. If you fail, the Nanobots and the secret entity that spawned them will take over the Earth, reprogramming the human brain into docile submission.

Write a letter to your school principal explaining why you want to incorporate this game into your curriculum. What would be the costs, benefits, risks, and potential consequences associated with using the game?

On the other hand, if you do not want to see such a video game used in your school, provide a rational argument against its adoption and inclusion.


11) Fielder's Choice

Throughout the summer you've been introduced to many different topics, the majority of which have only been covered in a cursory manner. Select a topic, concept or idea that was discussed in class or in the online materials that you are not familiar with and find interesting. Utilizing the Internet and your web-based search and information analysis capabilities, develop a personalized learning plan for gaining a better understanding of this topic. Provide links and references that will demonstrate that you have given critical consideration to the concept and have used the social affordances of the Internet.



 

Computer and video games are a cultural and economic force drawing increasing attention from educators, anthropologists, economists, media scholars, journalists, and art critics (King, 2002; Perron & Wolfe, 2003; Poole, 2000).

Computer games have grown in sophistication and brought innovative models of interactive storytelling that is entertaining and inspiring millions of people.

Games have grown not only into an important economic force (grossing roughly US$11 billion), but a cultural force -- a medium of choice for many members of the millennial generation that educators should understand.

While some educational critics have derided games as pointless, it is still important for educators to understand why games have such appeal and understand what design principles underlie them.

Dodlinger's (2007) academic literature review focuses on 35 publications addressing educational video game design spanning the last ten years in order to "identify elements of game design that promote learning as well as the learning theories that conceptualize how video games foster learning" (p. 21).

Dodlinger notes that "While there is widespread consensus that games motivate players to spend time on task mastering the skills a game imparts, some disagreement over the specific characteristics that provoke that motivation exists" (p. 28).

Elements of game design that promote learning

Moreover, Dodlinger's (2007) review identified six distinct design elements that could be deemed necessary to stimulate desired learning outcomes. These elements include:

• Narrative context -- for situating and contextualizing learning -- the storyline
• Goals and rules -- objectives and guidelines - short term, medium term, long term
• Rewards -- (associated w/motivation) -- signals achievement
• Interactivity and multisensory cues -- direct attention, introduce new sensory perspectives, provides feedback cues for error correction

Learning outcomes from educational video games

In terms of learning outcomes from educational video games, Dodlinger (2007) points to research that suggests that well-designed games support the development of 21st century learning skills (e.g., play, performance, navigation, resourcefulness, negotiation, synthesis, collaboration, team work, judgement, discernment) but also other higher order thinking skills such as deduction and hypothesis testing, complex concepts and abstract thinking, and visual and spatial processing.


While exploring the potential for games in educational contexts, there seem to be a handful of challenges to widespread adoption and game integration:

• Understanding the value of games
• Finding appropriately designed games
• Getting games into educators' hands
• Integrating games into curricula, i.e.,  getting them into kids' hands
• The ethical roles and responsibilities associated with gaming
• The lack of clear evaluation standards associated with work produced utilizing games
• How do we guarantee that the rich opportunities afforded by the expanding educational gaming landscape are available to all?

[I'm sure there are more, these are just a few that sprung to mind.]

Class activity:
Let's take a look at a couple of online educational games and see to what extent they incorporate the six design elements listed above.

Examples:
Tut pup --  basic math and spelling games -- http://tutpup.com

Getty Games -- basic puzzle games based on museum pieces in the Gettty collection --  http://www.getty.edu/gettygames/

Villany, Inc. -- Thwarting World Supremacy through Mathematics storytelling, problem-solving and mathematics -- http://villainyinc.thinkport.org/mission1/default.asp?autoload=1

Free Rice -- social action and educational game -- http://www.freerice.com/


ADDENDUM:
More Educational Games:
Games Multimedia Materials -- a wiki housing several good examples of educational games.

Game Research Site:
Game Research - The art, business, and science,  of video games.

Major Reference:
Dondlinger, M. J. (2007). Educational video game design: A review of the literature. Journal of Applied Educational Technology, 4(1): 21-31. Retrieved 23 July 2008 from http://www.eduquery.com/jaet/JAET4-1_Dondlinger.pdf

My del.icio.us "games" links
 

[Note: This post is a brief introduction to video and computer-based games in education. It is the basis for a lesson plan associated with EME2040 Introduction to Educational Technology Summer C 2008.]

Image from 1up.com.

Essentially, the argument is: without a certain amount of piracy, i.e., law breaking, our culture would stagnate--creativity, new ideas, new social and economic opportunities would be less likely to occur. [How edupunk is that?]

Let's face it, the movie industry would not exist without piracy, nor would the United States of America. Following the rules is something we learn early in our developmental years. We need these rules to make sense out of the world. Yet, once we begin to gain consciousness of ourselves and the different rules that shape society and culture, "interesting" things are sure to follow.

One of my favorite stages of human development are the "Why?" years. Parents and teachers learn to address this boundless curiosity with a number of strategies, some of which teach kids to stop questioning and merely accept things as the way they are, regardless of why they are the way they are.

My favorite part of college during my early years was when I had a professor who would re-introduce "Why?" Why do we believe what we believe? Why does language have such an impact on how we see the world? Why are you studying poetry? [That last comment was from my parents.]

When I think of piracy, the metaphor churns up more than movie-friendly swashbucklers. The first thing that comes to mind is the notion of stealing valuable goods and taking control of other people's property. I think the word I'm looking for is "stealing." Piracy in this sense smacks of a rather sordid affair. So it seems it's one thing to break a rule and it's another to steal something which is not rightfully yours. (See this related article regarding a study commissioned by Microsoft "that aims to quantify the economic impact of piracy on related small businesses in the software ecosystem and identifies sales of software licenses to pirates as a key economic opportunity for small vendors.")

Stealing ideas, now here's where things get exceptionally dicey.

The mash-up has been in existence since the beginning of recorded time. People have been combining ideas, lyrics, melodies, and images for centuries, creating truly some of the most important inventions, music, and ideas we as a civilization have ever known. So, given the useful tools for appropriating information, sounds, images, and ideas, when is stealing illegal anymore? Copyright laws were designed to protect both creators and users of information, but who is out there enforcing these laws when the scale of appropriation is simply beyond the scope of control? And what about what we're teaching kids and educators in schools about appropriating content? Are we teaching about "fair use," or other copyright uses and responsibilities? My guess is those ethical and legal considerations are being swept under the rug.

So, is the issue that of stealing or are we operating from a set of rules that can no longer be enforced? I find the question almost as delicious as the possible solutions! 

Image: Howard Pyle -- Walking the Plank. 

Further searching led me to an article from the Houston Chronicle dated January, 29, 2007. The reporter noted that "[t]he number of blogs about "teaching" or "teachers" tracked by Technorati.com" had increased 10 percent in less than six months to "nearly 950."" Unfortunately, it is not clear from the article what 950 represents. Does it mean there are a combined number of blogs about teachers and teaching? Is that an average? Or are both terms showing 950 instances?

Given this limited data set, we can see that since the end of January 2007 to the end of June 2008, the number of blogs about teachers and teaching has grown 2.5 to a little over 6 times larger in 18 months. (How long will this trend continue? What's driving it? Questions for another day....)

So what other data would be useful for thinking about teachers who blog?

According to the Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007, there are 6.8 million teachers employed in the United States. The bulk of them (2.6 million) teach at the elementary and middle school level. The remainder include those teaching at the postsecondary, secondary and preschool and kindergarten levels.

Let's say for the sake of argument, of the 5,940 blogs about teachers, half of those are authored by teachers in the U.S. That would mean that there are around 3,000 teacher bloggers in the U.S. or approximately 1 blogger for every 2,000 teachers.

Does this sound right? Is there better data out there to make more informed estimates about teachers who blog?

Any thoughts or ideas on how to make this information more salient or reliable? Interested in collaborating? Let me know what you think.

Reference:
Upcoming Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007) retrieved 26 June 2008 from http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/fac

Graph -- All theories proven with one graph