The iSchool Initiative
Does technology belong in our classroom? Is a question that many people have trouble answering. This video talks about the benefits of having technology in the classroom and how it can help students process and retain information given to them, By using a tool called the ischool. The ischool will be built on Apples popular itouch platform. With this transformation schools will be able to have a paperless classroom. This is very good for the most part because we will be able to save a lot of trees, and at the same time save money from not having to buy new copying machined or replacing old ones. The ischool touch pads have apps on every subject, making it easy to use and clear to understand for students. Parents and students alike, will be able to email teachers for assignments and due dates.
Travis touched base on how the ischool could help schools today and then he talks about how it will transform education in the schools of tomorrow.For the most part, I can agree with Travis. According to Travis teachers from schools of tomorrow will be able to track assignments, tests, grades, attendance,lunch menus, and interactive school agendas, all by using apps from the iSchool touch pad. Teachers will have instant contact to their classroom, anytime and anywhere in the palm of their hand. Because of this technology student and teacher accountability will be possible for the first time in history. Parents will be able to monitor their child's progress from any phone or computer. To protect students privacy the iSchool will be lockable to the schools and personalized for students. Students will only be able to visit websites that have to do education, and how it relates to their homework. Having the iSchool in schools, will ultimately save money for every one, at least $600 a student. The price of iSchool for one student is about $150. You do the math. This is the link (ZeitgeistYoungMind's Entry ) to the video that Travis made to get more people into the idea of using technology in the classroom. In His first video Travis was only 17 years old, and now he is 21 years old and on the same mission to get schools to adopt his vision, to get people to thrive in this digital world that new students are being born into.
Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir ( Teaching in the 21st Century) Wow,is the only thing that I can say about this video. Just to be able to put something like this together on the internet with people you've never met before, is amazing.In this video clearly timing is everything. With the internet and technology,anything is possible to accomplish no matter how far away people are from one another. I'm curious to know how other people felt about this video.
In this youtube video Why I flipped My Classroom by Katie Gimbar, Katie talks about what caused her to flip her classroom. This is Katie's fifth year teaching Math, and she has become overwhelmed and frustrated at the reality that she could literally see which of her students were getting the information and which ones were not. Katie felt like she was only teaching to the group of students who could follow along as she went through the materials. While other students were either more advanced and were ready to move on to new information, or really didn't understand the information being given. This lead to 90% of class time being spent on delivery and review of content. Katie felt like she wasn't meeting all of her students needs because of her constant battle for more time to go over information in the classroom. In other words she couldn't reach the needs of all of her students within the class time allowed. So that meant that it was up to students to pick up on what they couldn't catch on to in school, at home.Katie felt like she had to make a drastic change in her teaching methods, which lead her to adopt the idea of flipping her classroom. Now students are able to pre-load classroom content before they get to class, and can now pause, rewind, and watch the videos as often as they'd like. If they have any questions about the materials they covered in class,students are able to post questions to their teacher, or fellow classmates via the internet.
Dr.Lodge McCammon's felt like it was too much lecture in the classroom, which is insufficient and not engaging and a one shot deal. Dr.Lodge took his findings and created an project called FIZZ. FIZZ trains teachers to flip the classroom. That way students can watch fizz video lecture series,created by their teachers outside of the classroom. It is a sufficient way of delivering information to the students, where they can view it as many times as they need, while at the same time creating more classroom time, which gives teachers more time to come up with differential ways of teaching. To be honest I loved both of these videos. They both touched on some good points such as learning habits, and what works and what doesn't work. I would love to learn more about FIZZ and apply it to my classroom, because not every child learns the same. What works for one child may not work for the other, and it is our job as teachers to find out what works best for each student. I truly believe in NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND. My major concern to all of this technology is what about the lower income families who may not abe able to afford the internet at home. Would their child still end up being left behind, due to their parents income level?
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI really liked your blog. I do want to say I agree with the idea of the ISchool. I think that we are still in progress with it though. There are so many unanswered questions, such as what happens if they get lost or broke? How do we replace those? Also what about parents that cannot afford them? It is such a brilliant idea, and I do hope we can make it a reality! But like I said there is just so many kinks that we need to work out before this is a bullet proof idea.
Travis Allen is a brilliant man! This is the kind of imagination and creativity that we want our students to have in the future. Who ever his teacher was, he/she is a great man/woman.
You said exactly what I said about Eric Whitacre's video. That is the only way to describe it! The melody was just harmonious! I think that the people who were singing were pretty impressed with themselves!
I think flipping the classroom is a splendid idea! This idea has all the kinks worked out. If the student doesn't have a computer they can come in the morning to do their assignment. This idea gives more time to the students and less time to the teacher. I agree with Mr. McCammon there is too much lecture in the classroom. I can't tell you how many times I saw classmates sleeping in class. This is because they were not engaged! If the students are engaged and allowed to explore in the classroom they will learn more.
Once again I loved your blog post I do have a few suggestions. I see you do have some capitalization, punctuation, and spelling errors that might need to be worked on. For example:
I think you meant them, by instead of ,By
You might want to make, "This is very good for the....…copying machined or replacing old ones." and "In His first video.... world that new students are being born into." into two sentences.
I believe you spelled information wrong
Also you might want to change this sentence "at home.(due to no fault of their own." to at home (due to no fault of their own).
Once again thank you for giving me your views! I really liked your blog.
Courtney
"...to them, By using a tool called the ischool. " no capital on B The iSchool is a concept, not a tool.
ReplyDelete"...new copying machined or ..." copy machine, not copying machined
"... students alike, will be able..." Remove the comma.
"...tomorrow.For the ..." You need a space after the period.
"...to Travis teachers..." Travos' not Travis Travis is possessive in this sentence.
"... In His first video Travis..." Travis is a special person but not yet a Deity.
Travis and his iSchool Initiative team visited with EDM310 this summer. It was a delightful 6 hours!
"...series,created..." space after the comma
You did not do part 3 of the assignment. You were doing so well but that caused rain to fall on your parade.
"...who may not abe able to afford the internet at home." be not abe We have data that clearly show most households have internet access (71% nationwide in October 2010. Of course the figure for Alabama was lower: 60%. Only Arkansas and Mississippi were lower. These figures are for all households, not just those with school age children living in them. Looking at those households where the head is over 55 (unlikely to have kids in the home) the percentage with internet access was only 60%. So we can expect to find (when available or searchable) that the percentage of household with kids that have internet access in the home probably approaches 80%). Librairies, schools, churches and even McDonalds, Lowes and Starbucks all provide free internet access if necessary. Can we afford to remain at the bottom of the heap when the possession of and ability to use the new technologies will be the major determinate of the distribution of wealth and power in the immediate and midterm future?
"I truly believe in NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND. My major concern to all of this technology is what about the lower income families who may not abe able to afford the internet at home. Would their child still end up being left behind, due to their parents income level?" Two questions: Do you support the emphasis on testing that appears to be the major component of No Child Left behind? I certainly do not. In fact, I think it is abominable. Do you advocate not doing anything that cannot be afforded by the lowest income group? Surely not. If you do, then Alabama will fall even further behind. And everyone in Alabama will suffer. Or abandon the public schools which is already happening and has happened before. The last time that happened we had primarily white religious schools. This time we will have home schooling via the internet.