Champney

• Pedagogical Knowledge
• Content Knowledge
• Technological Knowledge

Extended discussion about is it necessary to integrate if teachers are effective at what they do?
• What about consistency-selling technology to parents- shouldn’t we be able to expect some basic tech. skill/knowledge as the y move from grade to grade?
• Is the teacher who is anti-tech. really the best judge of the effectiveness of tech.? They may be a great teacher that can be even better?
• In services focus so much on the whole rather than individual content areas so we never get to the content knowledge intersection of the ven diagram.
• Is a technology item still considered technology when it is ubiquitous?
•I s withholding technology as punishment appropriate? Does that marginalize tech. By saying that it isn’t necessary?

Posted by Kevin Champney at 1:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Interesting revelation/discussion about using technology to compute median, mode etc. while walking through frameworks. Using the tool, excel in this case, allows time to be spent on teaching students a deeper understanding of relevancy of computations. Significant Kurzwellian idea (yes that word is intentionally and suspiciously Orwellian) of utilizing tools to advance knowledge and create real knowledge rather than reinventing basics each time. Speed advantage. Transformative v. Replacement. What is the viewpoint from the student’s perspective. They have grown up in a world where the phonebook and maps are on line so their concepts of replacement are very different from mine and ridiculously different from some of the people that I work with that only use their computer when they need to. Moreover all that they currently know is how they have been taught up ‘til now in their limited experience. What has that experience incorporated?

When I came into class today I was alittle confused about how to us ethese frameworks. It seems like they could focus to much on a right/wrong kind of assessmetn of a lesson as opposed to using the framework to infomr ourselves about wat it is that we are doing in a lesson plan.

Posted by Kevin Champney at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Good discussions to day and rummaries of state and national tech plans. I was involved in the group that looked at how the state plans addressed students. We found: 1. emphasis on how technology can improve test scores; 2. students become active social leaners because of technology; 3. shift of emphasis from teacher to student learning to more of a student focus; 4. no detail describing the learning process.

Also in group that looked at 2004 National Tech Plan Goals listed:
1. Strengthen Leadership
2. Consider Innovative Budgeting
3. Improve Teacher Training
4. Support e-learning
5. Encourage broadband access
6. Move toward digital content
7. Integrate data systems

Posted by Kevin Champney at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Something that really strikes me about lots of these classes, but relevant to this class in particular is the amount of funding planned for tech. training. We currently spend very little on training. In fact most of the training that does occur is done by me-so perhaps my salary is the expenditure-just kidding.

Posted by Kevin Champney at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Kevin Champney at 1:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hughes-How to Become a technology Integrationist
This article describes the Types of Integrated Technology Knowledge (Technology Pedagogical Knowledge, Technology Content Knowledge and Technology Pedagogical Content Knowledge) and how teachers get and implement technology integration ideas. I was actually encouraged by the article we actually have quite a few lessons that incorporate CK, TPK and PCK. Particularly in te math and science departments software programs such as Geometer’s Sketchpad, Graphical Analysis, Logger Pro and chemistry and physics probes and sensors. Additionally I teach database skills to classes in all the disciplines regularly. This spring one of our social studies teachers began using bthe magazine database Academic Search Premiere as his primary text source. Students were responsible for not only retrieving assigned readings, but finding reading related to their topic. Students in programming classes developed programs that did everything from play poker to search the contents of a Grateful Dead setlist database. At lower integration levels word processing, spreadsheet and powerpoint skills are used. Lately I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by new opportunities, but this article actually was encouraging.

Posted by Kevin Champney at 3:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Interesting points form the Shao article included the fact that there needs to be a solid pedagogical foundation to use technology effectively. In-service sessions should include a focus on pedagogy not just show and tell. Faculty need to be aware of what their technological needs are and be willing to work through them wit support staff (who need to actually exist and be willing to help. I had disappointed teachers on a couple of occasions borrow the school’s mobile laptop lab only t find out that they couldn’t run the application that they wanted. I have learned to make them be very specific when they sign up for the lab so that I can actually run through the lesson before hand and make sure every thing runs smoothly. Another interesting idea from this article is that sometimes one teacher’s self contained project had more of an impact on the school culture (the teachers) than projects intended to include many members of the faculty. Other teachers saw the success of a project and wanted to become involved. Again this dovetails nicely with many of the “leapfrog� strategies we have discussed in Prof. Harkins class. One way to move a campus forward is to act individually.

Posted by Kevin Champney at 3:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Taylor
This article about an intensive 5 day Phase 9 Professional Development Program intrigued me so I investigated further and looked the website. I looked at the website www.thesolutionsite.com. Holy cow! What a resource! Teachers are often asking me for ideas on different research projects or how to teach specific skills and I am usually coming up with tings from scratch. This site is incredible I found dozens of projects and lesson plans that I can use with teachers. Every day it seems like I find something new to share with faculty to enhance the curriculum. It can get a bit overwhelming, but it is really exciting the amount of information that is at our fingertips.

Posted by Kevin Champney at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Understanding NCLB
Understanding NCLB? Hahahaha-good one. Just kidding this is actually an easily digested overview of Title IID. Because I work in an independent high school I don’t have to deal with NCLB although we do fall under Maine’s local equivalent The Maine Learning Results because we have many students whose tuition is paid through state funding.

Posted by Kevin Champney at 5:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

21st Century
Partnership between business and education. Bridging the gap between how students live and how they learn I think is a core concept to everything we are doing in the STLI program. Most of us grew up in an era predating the common usage of computers no to mention the Internet. We all learned and played in a much different world than our current students. This year’s incoming high school freshman class were born for the most part in 1992 and were preschoolers when AOL and Microsoft really brought personal computing and the Internet into the home. They think, learn and conduct research in a much different way than I did, and I’m probably somewhere in the middle age-wise of people in my position. I immediately went to the Encyclopedia Brittanica and essentially learned mind-mapping strategies (although I didn’t know it) by using the index, browsing the volumes and using a library card catalog. Key concepts that I found instructive in this article include: building on how students already view the world, students need to “understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework, and organize knowledge so they can retrieve and apply it� (this really pulls at my librarian/historian heart strings) and students should actually have an understanding of how they learn. I think these are foundational concepts in ho we as technology educators and integrators need to proceed. This article also had some really good concrete plans for moving forward into a 21st century model of learning.

Posted by Kevin Champney at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hughes-Technology Learning Principles
A key concept presented in this article: “ teachers’ learning opportunities, in turn, are predominantly skill-based when schools offer short-term technology skill workshops� really hits home with me. I have certainly been guilty of that. I have shown many teachers how to use tech. tools without any clear vision of why they should use them or they can integrate them effectively into the classroom. I have begun to become more aware of this fault and have started to use faculty members within departments that are effective users of technology to conduct training with me-show how they are using the tools and how it is impacting the way that they teach and how their students learn. I really love this program not only for the fact that it is teaching me new things, and giving more of a sense of direction, but also it gives me confidence that I am on the right track in so many areas. It is heartening. I think that so many of us in the role of technology coordinator/director/integrator what have you came at this in a roundabout fashion and too often feel as if we are reinventing the wheel. I’m a librarian by training, and only have the position that I do because I was sick and tired of the lack of technology direction in our school and underutilization of the tools that we had available to us. I was foolish enough to speak up about it to the Head of School and the next thing I new I had new responsibilities-which I love by the way). These classes are a Godsend.

Posted by Kevin Champney at 5:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

McGrath
This article, which focuses on Project Based Learning to integrate technology dovetails nicely with much of the reading I have been doing for Professor Harkins EDPA 5308 class Emerging Issues in Technology. This term was new to me before this program although I had been practicing much of what it advocates in my lessons. I have no background in pedagogy but I am trained as a historian/folklorist/archivist and librarian so much of what PBL advocates fits perfectly into the methods I use to teach research skills in the school media center and in technology classes. I am constantly trying to get students to problem solve with me, tell me what they know and actually look at different models that they are familiar with in their own lives to solve research problems.

The results of PBL using technology for at-risk students were:
• increased engagement
• work on cognitively complex tasks
• a shift from rote learning to inquiry and all the higher-order thinking skills that are part of such research
Conclusion
• Build on what students know, through meaningful, relevant activity.
• Use technological tools to help in understanding and communicating.
• Present a product to an audience who can give students important feedback and a sense of satisfaction.

Posted by Kevin Champney at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Research and Critical Issues
Tapscott
I’ll be honest any article that starts by talking about market forces evening the playing field for the haves and have nots scares me a little. Just the term “open market� makes me think of the CIA in Guatemala or the Middle East assassinating democratically elected leaders, opium wars, social Darwinism and the Rand Insitute. Luckily as I read further Tapscott takes the stance that outside intervention either governmental or corporate is necessary to even the playing field. Of course he also states that having computers n classrooms in not enough they must be properly implemented and integrated into the curriculum. I found this article offered a sound foundational concept and some good strategies for businesses but it was a bit out of date. $3500 for a PC? I remember those days…and how aggravated I was 6 months later when it was obsolete.

Posted by Kevin Champney at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Partnerships
This article didn’t have many concrete ideas. Schools and education in general need community involvement to be successful. Yup.

NETS
Gee, I hope no one at ISTE broke their collarbone patting themselves on the back while writing this article and contemplating their monumental contribution to American education. OK, OK, I admit I’m getting cranky sitting inside on a nice Maine summer day reading the 14th article on school technology planning (not to mention reading and blogging for EDPA5305, EDPA 5309, CI 5344 and writing a paper for EDPA 5308). Honestly having standards to guide my work in education is extremely helpful. It allows me to have some sort of guideline and point of departure that I can measure what we are doing. I think a strong point about standards such as these is made when they states they should be “a place to begin not an end�.

Posted by Kevin Champney at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, our school went without a technology coordinator/integrator/director for five years. We essentially just outsourced our network administration and hardware and software upkeep, threw money at the problem and then sat back and congratulated ourselves for “investing� in technology. That is until I decided I was tired of the situation and said I’d be willing to do whatever was necessary to help us utilize and maintain the technology available to us to its fullest. Famous last words! I spent my first year on the job (2005-2006) just repairing, assessing and encouraging teachers to ask for help and try things. Essentially our school had created a situation where faculty and students felt let down by technology and as a result were only using what was available sporadically and ineffectively.
Phase II: Equipment Acquisition and Learning described in the Porter article describes us to a tee. We are just moving beyond the infrastructure improvement aspects into integration, but the reality is that no one has actually been in charge of implementation/integration. There has been no real change to the curriculum simply “small adjustments and adaptations�. Learning goals have been broad and not assessable. We have been left with pointing out anecdotal successes in individual teacher’s lessons rather than having truly broad implementation of technology throughout the curriculum. Moreover technology training for faculty has been piecemeal with no true training plan in place.

I’m always torn between feeling depressed, overwhelmed and hopeful when I read articles like these. Depressed because so much time has been wasted for our school; overwhelmed because there is so much to do and learn; and hopeful because every article I read gives me a new model or idea to work with. The Planner’s Handbook in particular gave me some great ideas and concrete forms, checklists surveys etc. to use as I try to find a way to make all of this work manageable. The Eric Digest Ten essential Elements article really pointed out what we have accomplished and where we need to go. We have done OK with gathering Data, involving all stakeholders, ensuring a sound infrastructure and allocating appropriate funding-basically all of the elements that didn’t require any sort of leadership or vision but have really failed at the aspects that required consistent long term effort and planning.

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