Saturday, May 10, 2008

My Reflection on the Class

"Integrating Computer Technologies in the Classroom" has been a challenging, fast-paced class full of technology to which I had never been exposed before. Through the class, I have learned the following:
  • Computers still frustrate me sometimes, but they have come a long way since the days when I was in school. I vividly remember spending all of my computer classes giving a "turtle" commands to move in different directions on a black and green screen.
  • Rather than teaching students the programs and applications as curricular goals, the technology should be used as a very powerful tool to teach classroom content.
  • By using the Internet to teach content, the teacher provides students with a plethora of resources that are easily searchable and free.
  • Do not avoid using the Internet with the students in order to protect them from inappropriate material. Give students links to sites that are safe for children to explore. I was very happy to find a number of sites that review Internet locations to find safer and more reliable information for children. In my classroom, I plan to do this by creating Hotlists to guide the children to appropriate sites.
  • In addition to being a powerful tool for research, the Internet provides opportunities for students to connect with people around the world. These people may be experts in their fields or children in other countries. Project sites such as http://flatclassroomproject.wikispaces.com encourage students to interact with people around the world to foster cultural awareness and respect. With future classes, I would like to use ePals (http://www.epals.com/) to help my students practice their communication and interview skills. Using this purpose-driven, email format would probably motivate some of my more reluctant writers to communicate in writing without feeling overwhelmed.
  • If students have access to the Internet at school and at home, there are many Web 2.0 applications that replace the days of expensive software programs that exclude students from lower income families from having access to the most advanced programs. The Google document programs have many of the same capabilities as the expensive software applications. I plan to use Web 2.0 applications with students and to discuss their benefits with the class. For example, students can make presentations using the free Google presentation program.
  • After listening to several podcasts, I realize that podcasts can be a wonderful source of free education for adults and children. I was surprised by the number of educational podcasts that have regularly published episodes. I can introduce the students to such podcasts and require that they listen to podcasts that support our curriculum. The novelty of this format may make students feel excited about learning new information.
The most valuable thing that I have learned from the course is how to design a WebQuest. It is a time-consuming process, but the resulting projects foster higher-level thinking skills. They help students develop real-world social skills as they work in groups to achieve a common goal. WebQuests can be tailored to meet the needs of different learners, to develop specific skills, and to teach students a variety of curricular objectives simultaneously. I plan to explore the variety of WebQuests that have been created by other teachers and to integrate this Constructivist learning format into my classroom.

Friday, May 9, 2008

Chapter 3 Summary and Comments

In chapter 3 of A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink presents a world in transition. The chapter entitled "High Concept, High Touch" emphasizes the need for Americans to evolve to compete and to continue to lead in a global economy.

First, Pink presents a humorous cartoon that shows an American walking increasingly taller and with a more lively step as he evolves through economic ages (p. 50). Pink outlines the progression through the following ages:

Agricultural Age:

America was a society of farmers.


Industrial Age:

America was a country that emphasized efficiency and promoted mass production.


Information Age:

America was a country of "knowledge workers" that valued analytical thinking.


Conceptual Age:

America is becoming a country that values creativity and meaning.


Pink claims that this change is taking place as a result of what he calls "ATG" in North America, Western Europe, Australia and Japan.
A= Affluence
T= Technological progress
G= Globalization

In this Conceptual Age, we are moving from an era of left brain-right brain dichotomy to an era of a unified mind that adds to rather than replaces "L-Directed Thinking." In addition to analytic, logical thinking, Pink claims that we need to develop "high-concept" and "high-touch" capabilities.

High Concept

High Touch

Involves the ability to:

  • Create art and beauty
  • Write narratives
  • Invent

Involves the ability to:

  • Interpret relationships
  • Find joy in self and others
  • Search for meaning and purpose

(This information can be found on pages 51 and 52 of Daniel H. Pink’s A Whole New Mind.)


To illustrate the transition that is taking place specifically in the United States, Pink gives four examples:
  1. Medical School: According to Pink, medical schools are changing their curricula to diagnostic procedures that emphasize empathy and the patient's story.
  2. Japan: He highlights the growing pop culture and the new emphasis on creativity in schools.
  3. General Motors: Pink presents a view of General Motors, whom most Americans accept as a product of the Industrial Age, as an evolving company that has leaders who view the company's role as that of creator and artist.
  4. MFA: The author focuses on the explosive popularity of Master of Fine Arts programs.
All of these changes in various niches of American society point to the growing awareness that the way for the American worker to beat the lower prices produced by international outsourcing is to create. Americans need to focus on creating and recreating products with aesthetic appeal that is worth more to consumers. The following quote summarizes Pink's assertion that the Conceptual Age is one of "high-concept" and "high-touch" abilities:
"We must perform work that overseas knowledge workers can't do cheaper, that computers can't do faster, and that satisfies the aesthetic, emotional, and spiritual demands of a prosperous time" (p. 61).

Finally, Pink introduces six skills that are high-concept and high-touch:
  • design
  • story
  • symphony
  • empathy
  • play
  • meaning
In A Whole New Mind, Pink provides compelling evidence that our economy is undergoing a change. While the prospect of competing with workers that do not need to earn the same level of income as a livable wage is daunting, Pink highlights the ways in which we can continue to make ourselves more valuable. Pink's ideas appeal to my logical, L-Directed side. If the successful participant in the modern economy must be analytical, creative, and empathic, teachers must play a role in developing these aspects of our students.

I frequently hear my students debate aloud whether or not they will be doctors, lawyers, engineers, or some sort of "business person." In their minds, these careers are more desirable because they have traditionally provided stability and prestige. Often, parents have encouraged their children to consider only these career paths. From talking to my friends I know that people of my generation seem to think of themselves as "math and science people" or as "humanities people" (never as both) because of the artificial line we have drawn through our abilities to be simultaneously logical and creative.

What can teachers do to change this? Teachers can and should develop the sensibilities simultaneously in all students. In my classroom, I can use multiple models of instruction to invite analytical think and invention. For example, I could present students with assignments that require products that are inventive, beautiful, and helpful to the world beyond the classroom. Through WebQuests, I can present students with problems that will require them to seek solutions through understanding the values and needs of people in other countries. Open-ended projects guide students to develop flexible and holistic thinking that will prepare them for work in the Conceptual Age.

Works Cited:

Pink, Daniel H.. A Whole New Mind. New York: Riverhead Books, 2005.

Friday, May 2, 2008

Copyright and Fair Use

Copyright laws are hot topics right now in schools. "What is Fair Use?" has been a question that has arisen at each school I have attended as well as during my graduate school classes. Although the idea of protecting the intellectual property of another person is important, I find the gray areas very frustrating.

I don't think that anyone who is being honest with himself actually believes that stealing someone else's work is okay. However, the number of pirated copies of DVDs and illegally downloaded music suggests that there are some people that feel entitled to profit from work they did not do. In the past, I have had students who have told me that their parents burned CDs or DVDs. Although their parents did not sell the copies, they are also not buying them. This violates the "effect on marketability"standard of the copyright laws as presented on A Teacher's Guide to Fair Use and Copyright by Cathy Newsome. Although I do tell students that it is against the law to do this, it is a very delicate thing to tell a student that something his or her parent has done is probably illegal. According to the same article, ignorance of the laws is not an acceptable defense for violating them. Therefore, it is important for students to understand this information and for them to (hopefully) share it with their parents respectfully.

Fair Use in schools seems to be a less cut and dried part of copyright laws. Our schools operate on limited budgets, so many teachers are often tempted to save money by copying portions of books and other materials for the students to use. The percentage of the book copied and the purpose for which it is being used help to determine whether or not this is Fair Use. A Visit to Copyright Bay by the University of St. Francis presents information regarding fair use guidelines for making multiple copies. The guidelines state that copying less than 10% of a book for educational purposes may be acceptable if only one copy is made for each student and sufficient time does not remain to gain the author's permission to use the copyrighted material. However, I have heard people make comments such as "who will know?" and "I am just using it for the kids." As Jamie McKenzie points out in Keeping it Legal: Questions Arising out of Web Site Management,
people argue "that almost any taking and use of printed materials, software, videos or graphics is permitted because education is a good cause." We owe it to our students to be examples of morality.

With the instant access to information today via the Internet, it is important that we are vigilant in schools about interpreting Fair Use policies as conservatively as possible. The amount of information protected by copyright laws seems overwhelming. The Stanford Libraries' Copyright and Fair Use policy states: "It doesn't matter if an author's creation is similar to existing works, or even if it is arguably lacking in quality, ingenuity or aesthetic merit. So long as the author toils without copying from someone else, the results are protected by copyright." Because of this, we have to respect the intellectual property of individuals no matter what our schools' budgets are.

One of the main challenges we face is that we are assigning students projects that require them to publish their work on websites. Without publishing information of the Internet, the danger of violating Fair Use practices is not as great. One solution is that students could present electronic information to their classmates using presentation programs such as PowerPoint rather than publishing it on the Internet.

There are two things that I was surprised by as a I educated myself about copyright and Fair Use guidelines. I admit that I did not know that it was a violation to show an entire video for entertainment purposes without permission.
A Visit to Copyright Bay by the University of St. Francis points out that "This means that you cannot perform a popular video to your students outside of a systematic instructional activity." Luckily, I do not show my students videos that are unrelated to our curriculum, but I have visited many schools that do. I had also not previously considered the copyright implications of Clip Art as mentioned in Jamie McKenzie's Keeping it Legal: Questions Arising out of Web Site Management.

There is so much to learn and I am sure that copyright and fair use questions will continue to be central issues in all school settings.


Works Cited:

Keeping it Legal: Questions Arising out of Web Site Management
Jamie McKenzie
http://www.fno.org/jun96/legal.html

Stanford University Libraries' Copyright and Fair Use Overview
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/

A Teacher's Guide to Fair Use and Copyright
Cathy Newsome
http://home.earthlink.net/%7Ecnew/research.htm#Copyright%20and%20Fair%20Use%20Defined

A Visit to Copyright Bay
University of St. Francis, Joliet, IL
http://www.stfrancis.edu/cid/copyrightbay/index.htm