Wiki Assignment

To Natalie and Chris who are working on the geiger counter and telescope wiki pages- I did some formatting on the wiki today, I'm not really sure what else needs to be done. What do you guys think? I looked at the assignment sheet and the only thing I think we might be missing would be links to other pages in the wiki. I'm not really sure what this means though.

Webquests

I don't know how many of you have heard of webquests, but they are nifty tools to use in class. A webquest gives a student a task, or a 'quest', and provides them with instructions and links to help them find and organize the information they need. There are all sorts of webquests in every subject area. We had to write webquests for my methods class. I've put a link on this page to the webquest portal site where you can search for webquests on any topic.

Insights after the release of Blackboard 6.0

Normally, I am not one to rant and whine about things, but I am wondering if anyone else has noticed a new phenomenon this semester after the release of Blackboard 6.0. It seems to me that every professor at BYU wants students to get everything off of Blackboard. There are all sorts of new homework assignments, online readings, and announcements to keep track of due to the popularity of Blackboard. I am getting to the point where I can't remember if my assignments are supposed to be submitted in class, on blackboard, or in the boxes in the Benson building! And, since Blackboard runs all day and all night, professors can have (and frequently do have) homework and quizzes due on days when we don't even have class. Also, who in their right mind can keep track of whether you are supposed to post something before 10:00 pm or before 2:00 am? As far as I am concerned, someone needs to tighten the reigns on the rampant use of Blackboard at this university. Talk about a great example of technology inhibiting learning.

Virtual ChemLab

Dr. Brian Woodfield at BYU has created a program called Virtual ChemLab. Students across campus (including me) use it in college chemistry courses to model laboratory experiments. It is also used in high school chemistry classes around the country. It is a great way for students to simulate laboratory experience without using dangerous or expensive chemicals, and without taking hours to actually do the experiment in the lab. Teachers can prepare unknowns for students to analyze. The program simulates actual lab procedures and conditions. If students do a reaction that would create an explosion in a real lab, they witness an explosion in the virtual lab. Virtual ChemLab cannot take the place of actual bench chemistry, but it increases opportunites for student learning.

Dr. Woodfield is giving a lecture about the Virtual ChemLab project on Monday, September 13th, at 4:00 pm in W140 of the Benson Building.

Reflecting on Technology in My K-12 Experience

My first recollection of using technology in school was about 4th grade. Our school had a tiny Macintosh computer lab that our whole class marched down to visit once every two weeks. We would spend an hour playing games on the computers. My family did not have a computer until I was in 10th grade, so this was a novel concept to me. We generally played one of three games. The first was the classic Oregon Trail. We spent 45 minutes mousing around the model of Independence Missouri taking our best guesses as to what "supplies" we would need to go west. The last 10 minutes of our computer time was spent racing to "Oregon". The other games we played were math games. One was an adventure game...something along the lines of slaying the dragon if you answered math problems correctly, and the other was a mystery game...solve the mystery by answering the math problems correctly. These experiences were nothing more than a different way to practice problems learned in the classroom. This use of technology was valuable insofar as I had the opportunity to learn how to manipulate the mouse, use a keyboard, and understand what a disk was, but my academic knowledge was not enhanced by the use of technology. This was in the early days of technology in the schools, so maybe the point was simply to have students get their hands on computers and learn to feel comfortable with them.

In high school, I remember being assigned powerpoint presentations. I had to do several presentations, and while I detested it at the time, I appreciate it as I look back. I was assigned a project on Nathaniel Hawthorne where I had to read two of his books and create a presentation on him and his work. One benefit was that I learned to use powerpoint software at an early age. Using the presentation software helped to teach students to organize their thinking. The problem I saw with this assignment was that the teacher was so focused on making sure we could use the technology that she did not teach us how to go about analyzing the literature we read. If I were to give advice to teachers about the use of technology in the classroom, the most important thing I would say would be to use technology as a tool for learning, not as a nifty gadget to play with. The incorporation of technology into the classroom must not eliminate student-teacher interaction and feedback or inhibit participation in groups. It is easy to become an isolated learner and this is the main thing teachers must guard against as they incorporate technology into their classes.

Rules of Thumb for Successful Technology Integration

After reading "Changing How and What Children Learn in School with Computer-based Technologies" by Roschelle et al. and "Computers as Mindtools for Engaging Learners in Critical Thinking" by Johassen et al., I have come up with the following rules of thumb for teachers who want to integrate technology into their classroom.

• Technology must facilitate interaction, not replace it.
• Teachers must be comfortable enough with the technology that it becomes a learning tool, not a fancy gadget to show off.