Saturday, May 14, 2011

EDLD 5362 Informational Systems Management Week 5 Assignment

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpE73T67Rr0

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http://www.slideshare.net/sdcopeland/edld-5362-informational-systems-management-week-5-ppt

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

EDLD 5362 Informational Systems Management Week 4 Assignment

Classroom of the Future: Built for Creation and Presentation
Shannon Copeland
Lamar University



Classroom of the Future: Built for Creation and Presentation


Schools and classrooms of the future will take advantage of a number of new technologies outlined in the 2010 Horizon Report. This resource explains the exciting new services that are becoming mainstream. Cloud computing, collaborative environments, game-based learning, mobiles, augmented reality and flexible displays are discussed at length in this report. These technologies are broken down into the categories of near-term, mid-term and far-term depending one their entry into mainstream use in schools. They also show great potential for teaching, learning and creative expression. (Johnson, Smith, Levine & Haywood, 2010) Cloud computing seems to be the cornerstone for all of these technologies, with collaborative environments and mobile and augmented reality apps based in the “cloud” already. I find cloud computing a remarkable step towards unlimited storage space and application availability. We are sure to by-pass physical hard-drives completely someday, having thin client computers that take advantage of cloud-based applications and storage exclusively.


Amazon.com recently launched its cloud drive offering 5 GB of free storage, access from any computer and secure storage. This service made me wonder about how long the concept of cloud computing has been around. I was astounded to find an article written in 1996 that actually describes an idea that would become what we know as cloud computing today. More astonishing is the fact that the author even refers to “a concept of a kernel (seen as a fix point, real place allowing social interaction and direct contact of learners with ‘live’ knowledge) and the concept of a cloud (seen as a virtual place allowing remote access to or interaction with knowledge and people)”.(Vivet, 1996, p.664) Vivet envisioned online learning communities operating with real-time communication such as Skype, chatrooms, facebook and the many other social and educational sites available to the masses.


The classroom of the near future will have access to all these technologies and more. I think I would use many of the ideas produced in the “Classroom of the Future” video for my classroom. (mediaineducation, 2007) My classroom would be designed specifically for creation and presentation of projects and ideas. If I could design a classroom from barebones to fully functional, I would begin with power concerns. There would have to be power available by means of wall-length, mounted power strips on every wall and multi-outlets in the floors. There would be wireless access with maximum frequency bands for use with mobile devices, such as cell phones, iTouches, iPads, laptops and streaming video delivery systems. Most of the mobile devices would lend themselves to game-based learning. I have students in my current classroom using iPads to play games presenting a number of strategic games and logic activities. I heard a speaker at ESC17 mention one time that all students have an attention span, we just have to find what holds it. If traditional means of teaching don’t keep students interested, many times game-based learning does. I do worry that this generation is becoming more isolated and withdrawn in real social situations, even though they are quite prolific in their online “lives”.


There will be two Promethean smart boards (one for my instruction and one for student presentations) and a document camera for presenting both student work and teacher instruction. I’ll also expect 1 to 1 computing with all computers mapped to a shared server and students with their own logins. The computer pods will all have networked scanners and printers. Although flexible displays are mentioned with the far-term technologies in the Horizon Report, I have seen, on television, desktops that worked much like a giant iPad or touch-phone. The designers were using a table-top computer screen the size of an office desktop. It reminded me of a cross between an iPad and a Promethean board in its functionality. The classroom desks will be modular as to accommodate several students into cooperative learning groups as mentioned above in the description of the learning pods. The walls will be covered with whiteboards that can be used as either writing surfaces or projection displays. My current classroom has both whiteboards and cork bulletin boards for student collaboration and presentation of projects. I’ve noticed that our English teachers are also using whiteboards in their classrooms, but not attached to the wall. Three of them have gone to Lowe’s Home Improvement and purchased “shower boards” and had our maintenance department cut them into sizes that can be placed in the middle of groups of students for collaboration and brainstorming. The students all use different color markers to show evidence of their work.


All of this design and planning must go hand in hand with sound teaching, leading and learning. Instructors must provide problems for students to solve and practice at solving them. Learning must also be presented in logical sequences allowing exposure to pre-requisites before more complex tasks and students need instructor-guided learning in conjunction with collaborative and self-directed learning to be successful. We have learned a great deal since I became a teacher 20 years ago. Students are now more experimental learners who are interactive and social. They have become multi-taskers and are less linear thinkers than my generation. That concept hits close to home with me due to my position as District TAKS Coordinator. I haven’t been able to train anyone to help me with TAKS testing because I’m such linear thinker that I can’t hand any part of the process over without severing some of my internal checks and balances for the procedures. Today’s students also EXPECT technology to be a integral part of their teaching and learning. It is up to school administrators to direct teachers to get the training they need to deliver this type of instruction.


In addition to being the District TAKS Coordinator, I’m also the District Technology Coordinator. This means that I authored our District Technology Plan and had it very much in mind when designing this classroom of the future. My district conducted a needs assessment and found that “Our research indicates that there is a need to expand the use of technology in our classrooms, across our campuses, and in our community. For this to be done successfully, the teachers must receive in-service instruction to effectively integrate technology into their teaching strategies.” (Copeland, 2009) Our goals and objective clearly state the needs for our students and district. We have 3 main goals: Anton ISD will prepare students for a technologically advancing world, AISD will access and utilize current technologies, and AISD will form a partnership with the community to provide opportunities involving current technology. These 3 goals are supported with numerous objectives and strategies that will be described more completely in Week 5’s assignment detailing our technology plans.







References

Copeland, S., (2009.) 2009-2012 District Technology Plan for Anton ISD. Retrieved May 3, 2011 from https://www.sedl.org/cgi-bin/mysql/eplan/eplan.cgi


Johnson, L., Smith, R., Levine, A., & Haywood, K. (2010). The 2010 Horizon Report: K-12 Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium.


mediaineducation. (2007, September 12). Classroom of the future hd: what's new in educational tech [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcXEznPXj8k&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1



Vivet, M. (1996). The classroom as one learning environment of the future. Journal of Universal Computer Science, 2.