Final Reflection Blog Post

Part I: Come up with a research question related to how technology shapes learning in your classroom.  Collect data (e.g., student work, student survey, informal interviews) to answer your question. Write a response (min. 800 words) that answers the following questions:

• What is your research question and what inspired you to come up with that question?

In proposing my research question, I wanted to look at the similarities and differences between the accessibility to and feelings toward technology that my MAD academy students have in comparison to my non-MAD Academy students. The MAD Academy at SBHS is a special program that students apply to their freshmen year, that puts them in classes Sophomore through Senior year that focus on Multimedia Arts and Design.  My content class happens to be CP biology with all MAD Academy sophomores.  My other content period is a Freshmen FIRST Science elective class, with no MAD affiliation (but potentially could have some interest in joining next year).  My question was to see what the difference in comfort with and use of technology looked like between the two groups of students, and whether this Multimedia and Arts Design Academy was influencing their feelings towards technology.  I initially thought that it would be a clear distinction between the two groups, yet to my surprise, found that there were only slight differences.  Where I expected their to be drastic differences their weren't - and where I didn't expect it, there were. 

• How did you collect data?

In order to collect data, I took a survey in both of my content periods, MAD CP Biology and FIRST Science (with no-MAD affiliation). The survey consisted of 9 questions, with yes/no, multiple choice, or ranking questions: 

The number one question I received from my students in administering the survey was, "Do we have to put our names," in which I ensured the students that this was completely anonymous and they wouldn't need to write their names.  I really tried to stress that the be honest and answer truthfully, based on the 2nd biggest question I got which was, "What is this for?"  I explained to my students in both periods that I am currently a UCSB grad student and was collecting data for a paper I was writing for one of my classes - I tried not to mention it being a technology course, so that I ideally wouldn't influence their answers.  All of the students in class that day took the survey, and for the most part, I used percentages of students answering a particular question with a particular answer, because there were a different total number of students in each class.

• What did you discover while analyzing the data?

In asking the first four questions of the survey, I expected to see the results that I did - the MAD Academy students have more access to and familiarity with technology at home.  This was expected not only because of their interest in it (which is why they chose to be in the MAD Academy in the first place), but also because of the grade level, class level, and socio-economic statuses of the different students in the different classes.  For these reasons alone (which could be a whole other research question), I really asked these questions in the hopes of seeing a baseline of each class, and get a feel for their exposure to technology outside of what I see in school.  I was a little surprised to see, however, that almost equal percentages of students in each class have smart phones (and let me tell you, are on them all the time).  I expected more of the MAD academy students to have smart phones than I saw (i.e., more than 81%), but I also expected their percentage to be way higher than the FIRST class, which it wasn't (at 79%).  Just goes to show you the world these students are living in and the changes in technology we are seeing so quickly appear - for example, the percentage of students with smart phones in my sophomore biology class probably would've been about 30%, if that.  Now, it seems like everyone has one. 

When the student were asked to rank themselves on a scale of 1 to 10 at how comfortable they were with technology, 1 being not comfortable and 10 being a expert, I wasn't surprised to see that all of the MAD academy students ranked themselves as an 8 or above, and the majority ranked themselves as 10s.  I was surprised however, to see the number of students in the FIRST class who ranked themselves as 10s, especially with the range of answers there seemed to be in the other questions.  I thought it was a great result to see, however I really didn't expect it.  Out of 28 kids, 10 ranked themselves as 10s, and only 1 student ranked themselves below a 5 - that's a pretty good comfort level average for a non-technology focused group of students.  It really makes me wonder how my science class freshman year of high school would've compared?  My parents?  We're in a new age of technology that's making our students more familiar with it - or feel more familiar with it - than we even know. 

• How will the results influence your future use of technology as a learning tool?

In seeing these final responses I first can see that no matter the class (technology focus or not), our students are in a world in which they are constantly exposed to technology, and don't necessarily prefer to use it.  In the survey I included two questions that asked students to rank their preference of using devices vs. books in reading, and their preference in handwriting or typing, for papers/assignments.  I was really surprised with the results:

More students preferred typing than handwriting in my FIRST science class than they did in the MAD academy class, in which they are constantly using devices for design and projects.  In my MAD class results, I saw that more preferred reading from books than reading from devices, which surprised me for the same reason. These students are signed up, by choice for an academy in which they focus on media and design, yet they showed less interest in using devices in both cases.  This shows me that in my teaching, I have to be careful with the use and overuse of technology in my classroom.  Could it be that the students are exposed too much to technology that they don't prefer it anymore? Because they have it so available to them, maybe it's not what they prefer anymore.   Whereas in my FIRST science class, I saw that students preferred typing, it was comforting to see that they still preferred books over devices as a class.  This contradicts my theory that they 'want what they don't have,' however it is nice to know that they don't want to entirely get rid of all things not involving the internet.   I think that this is something to really keep in mind in my teaching - students preferences and how frequently we, as educators, should expose them to technology. 

Part II: Write a response that reflects on your experience as a student in ED 325 (min. 400 words). Answer the following questions:

• What did you learn from this class?

This class has been so helpfully to the development of my knowledge of technology, and has really opened my eyes to more application of technology that I can use in my classroom.  Honestly, the blog post has done so much for me, and is something I would really like to incorporate into my classroom.  In undergrad, I had an ecology class in which we were required to do one blog post throughout the quarter.  I thought this was really helpful, yet we didn't get enough exposure to it throughout the course that it didn't impact me the way this course did.  Writing weekly or bi-weekly blog posts allows you to take ownership of an idea and make it your own, express it in your own way, and 'expose' it to an audience, giving you some sort of reward.  Providing feedback to one another was also really helpful and engaging, and it really made me want to incorporate this sort of technology based learning in my classroom.  Sharing online articles, linking their blog posts to their Twitter accounts (which I hope to incorporate as well!).  This class was just able to open my eyes to many possibilities technology has to offer in the classroom. 

• How has your vision of technology in education changed?

Before this class, I could've told you that technology was growing at a fast rate, and that our students were becoming more and more familiar with technology, etc. Our classrooms are having large screen TVs, Apple TVs, etc. installed, and technology is much more commonly used in our school system.  My sister works for Apple, so I had heard about the huge LAUSD iPad purchase and the pros and cons that had come out of that... however, before this class, I never would've known about or felt the way I do about the appropriate, responsible, reasonable amount of technology used in our classrooms, and how crucial it is to limit yet provide time for its use.  When is the right time to utilize technology? Are we overusing it? Are we keeping up with the advances?  The day that really resonated with me the most was the day that we saw the video talking about technology and social media and the impact they're having on our world... Something similar to this: 

This idea of the world we live in today and the impact technology has on it - and the effect it has on our education system really gets me thinking about the effect it'll have 2 years, 5 years, 10 years from now!? If we're worried about our current data collections systems, for example, how soon will it be a problem that is out of our control?! Technology is such a scary thing - yet so exciting at the same time! I'm really excited to embrace this adventure and experiment with it in my classroom! 

Games in the Classroom

Describe and link to one game (video, computer, board game, app) that you would be interested in using in your classroom. How will this game be used to enhance learning and/or make learning easier for students? If the game is not educational (e.g., Angry Birds, Words with Friends), how would you adapt the game to fit within your curriculum?

CellCraft Biology Game is a great computer game to show not only the anatomy of a cell, but the physiological processes that go along with energy consumption and production within a cell.  As you start this game, you are required to consume ATP, to give your cell more energy to move around the petri dish.  Along the way, you have different goals and tasks to accomplish in order to keep your cell functioning.  Partway through the game, a nucleus and mitochondria are acquired to aid in energy production.  This screen shot show the screen of the game upon obtaining a nucleus, and beginning protein production.  The top left corner shows the amount of energy, or ATP that my cell currently has. 

If you look in the upper right hand corner, you can see that the objective is to make more ribosomes.   Throughout the game there are objectives such as acquire ribosomes, glucose molecules, or ATP as you travel around the dish. The ribosome pictured enables the cell to continue protein production after the addition of the nucleus containing DNA. 

I think this game is a great learning tool for the classroom because it enables students to explore the anatomy and physiology of the cell, all the while completing tasks, goals and objectives along the way - which keeps there interest.  This game allows them to 'compete' and keep their cell alive, while teaching them very important anatomical and physiological processes.  I would consider using this game in my classroom while student were learning the anatomy and function of organelles within a cell.  There would be a risk in that computer time can promote off-task behavior, but I'd hope that allowing them to play this 'game' would keep their engagement and ideally help them in understanding the processes of a cell. 

Collecting Data

What data management system is available at your school? What type(s) of data does the system include? What other types of data would you like to collect about your students? How will you organize and store the data? How can access to and collection of student data help you make decisions about what you teach?

Aeries - Aeries is one of the primary data collection systems at SBHS.  Aeries is the school's system for recording student discipline reports, personal/family information, attendance, and previous grade reports.  My cooperating teacher and I use Aeries every day to record attendance/tardies, and occasionally use it to record discipline interventions.  As far as I know, Aeries is used District-wide, however, it will soon be switching over to a program called "Illuminate," that I haven't heard much about yet. Below is a picture of the login screen for Aeries. 

EDU2.0 - EDU2.0 is the system Santa Barbara High, and all of SBUSD use for recording grades, posting class assignments and calendars, etc.  My CT and I use EDU daily for grade/score inputs for our classes, and for posting certain assignments.  However, in exploring EDU2.0's website, (and from prior experience at my last placement) I've learned that EDU2.0 can be used for much more including: classes, content authoring and navigation, assessment, quizzes and question banks, gradebook, collaboration, curricula and proficiencies, certfiication, district/other campuses, multimedia, groups, resources library, administration, customization, integrations, activity feeds, dashboards, API, porrtal, rubrics, SCORM, class catalog, SIS integration, analytics and reporting, calendaring, internationalization, messaging, E-commerce, web conferencing, mobile, portfolios, social networking, monitoring, trash can, attendance, policies, account types, and help center.  Below is a virtual tour of EDU2.0. 

With all that is available through EDU2.0, a new system to SBUSD, I think that I could take advantage of a lot of the different features.  My previous CT and I used the rubric feature, and I'd love to explore that more.  Also, the resources library could be really beneficial to my teaching and my students learning.  As far as data collection and compilation of my students' information, I'd love to explore the dashboard feature further. 

Having access to this amount of data per student can be overwhelming, yet if used correctly, could be used to my advantage.  For example, I think that the records of discipline history, etc. can cause teachers to make assumptions about their students prior to meeting them, which could really detriment their experience with that student.  However at the same time, I think that prior knowledge of discipline history could be used to make sure that the first interaction with said student is a positive one - start the year off on the right note.  As far as academic history and grade reports, this data could be used both positively and negatively as well.  Knowing where students stand as far as prior academic history could be used to the same advantages and disadvantages that discipline history could be.  This collection of data needs to be used for the students advantage and advancement, not for ease of the teacher. 

Awesome Apps!

List 3-5 apps (with a short summary) that you would be interested in using either during student teaching or during your first year of teaching. Explain why you selected these apps. How will these apps enhance and facilitate learning? 

Virtual Heart (By: Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago)

Virtual Heart is an application that I would definitely use in my high school biology classroom, during our human anatomy unit, specifically the cardiovascular system.  This application would give students a great visual 3D representation of the heart that they could use to get a better understanding of the anatomy. The app has great reviews, and I love the feature that you can turn the labels on/off so that the students can use this app as a study tool. 


Gene Screen (By: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) 

Gene Screen is an application in which students explore and develop their understanding of simple genetic inheritance.  This app seems very applicable to the introduction to genetics unit, for basic dominant/recessive traits, and could be used as a good introductory exposure to then develop genetic theories.  I would like to use this application in a lab setting, like I proposed in my Tech Integration Plan. 


Solve the Outbreak (By: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

"Get clues, analyze data, solve the case, and save lives!" is the introductory sentence in the description of this app - if that doesn't real you in, I don't know what would! This app seems like a really fun experience for my students, in which we could analyze diseases and their effects on populations.  I think it would be really engaging and fun for the students, and applicable to the real world.



Quick Graph: Your Scientific Graphing Calculator (By: Columbiamug)

Quick Graph looks like a great tool that my students could use for lab reports - in their data analysis sections.  Getting students familiar with this technology could help them get engaged in the often disengaging part of science - doing the math! The app has GREAT reviews, and I think I could definitely use it in my classroom. 

Going 1:1...

Many teachers are worried that technology will distract students and take away from learning. If your school/district were to go 1:1 (one laptop/tablet per student) or BYOD (students bring own devices), how would you approach this issue (e.g., behavior management strategies, have a conversation with students, have students develop an acceptable use policy)?

I think that in going 1:1 or BYOD, management would be a huge issue, like addressed in both articles - however I believe it could be a huge benefit to the learning environment, if used correctly.  In the Social Media and School...Ugh article, the teacher let his students use their devices in the classroom - which I agree with, if used for academic purposes, they should be able to utilize them during appropriate class times.  I would love to utilize Twitter, Instagram and other social media sites for academic purpose; Ms. Welsh does a cool demo? #Ilovebiology

In the second article, For Teachers, Wired Classrooms Pose New Management Concerns they discuss some really useful management techniques that I would definitely implement if my school went 1:1.  They suggest wandering the room, which I would do anyway in my teaching, however it would be really helpful in ensuring the students be on task on their devices.  If they know that the teacher will be walking around the room, then they are less likely to be getting off topic.   Another suggestion that I really liked was putting the students in charge.  With that responsibility and ownership, I feel that they are much more likely to keep each other in line, and listen and respect each other.  I thought it was an even better idea to put a student in charge of hacking the system - what a great idea! Utilize this students' talents in order to protect the school's system... I would definitely do this. 

I really believe that technology in the classroom has potential, however I know that it comes with many challenges.  In my content class last placement, we took our students to the computer lab to work on their Science project write-ups.  In walking around the room, I caught a lot of students off-task.  It makes sense, the technology provides them with a lot of opportunity to become distracted.  That's why I feel like the technology should only implemented for something that's really worth using it for - not for tasks than can be done without it (using it just to use it).  

Free Tech 4 Teachers Dot Com

Critically analyze one of the blogs in your PLN: 
Free Technology for Teachers @ freetech4teachers.com

What is the author's background? 
Richard Byrne: High School Teacher for 8 years where he started a 1:1 laptop to student program and a tech support group called "The Laptop Squad"; Google Certified Teacher (which, if you click here you can find out more about); organizes tech workshops for schools and conferences

"I believe that when used correctly, technology has the power to improve student engagement and student achievement. I also believe that technology gives teachers the ability to form powerful, global, professional learning communities."

What type of posts are written? 
The main purpose of this blog is to share information with teachers about free resources that they can use in their classrooms.  Blog posts are categorized into topics such as: IPad Apps for School, Android 4 Schools, Google Tutorials, Free Guides, Alternatives to YouTube, Advertise Here, Work With Me, Favorite Resources, Creating Blogs and Websites, and Video Creation Resources.  

I love the fact that Mr. Byrne provides multiple examples and types of technology, and doesn't require his followers to fall under the only-one-type-of-technology-allowed category (cough, Apple Products, cough). Not that Apple isn't wonderful, I'm an owner myself, I just think it makes it really beneficial across the spectrum of tech users. 

How credible is the information? 
45.000+ Daily subscribers
Given the Edublogs awards for... 
2008: "Best Resource Sharing Blog"
2009: "Best Resource Sharing Blog," and "Best Individual Blog"
2010: "Best Resource Sharing Blog," "Best Ed Tech Support," and "Best Individual Blog"
2011: "Best Ed Tech Blog" by Edublogs

How is technology used? 
How is it not used?!  This site is simply here to provide examples of every type of technology possible for your classroom... Like I said before, I really appreciate the spectrum of examples as well, from Mac to Android to Apps, to Alternatives to YouTube (who knew?!).  It's really great that he provides so many choices. 

Are the ideas/apps/resources in the blog worth trying in your classroom?
My favorite section of the blog (pardon the pun) is the Favorite Resources tab, in which after looking at the html link, is really called "multidiscipline-projects-with-web-tools" which is awesome and really makes it my favorite tab.  The author provides not only the Top 20 visited resources/posts from his site, but provides his Top 10 favorites - which I will definitely explore and potentially use in my classroom. 

When should technology be used as a learning tool?

When tech should be used...
Technology is an amazing attribute to education that is available now to us more so than ever.  There are definite uses for it in the classroom, however with it's extensive availability, I think it's important to use only when it's necessary - i.e. the task can't be done (or in some cases, can't be done as well) without it. Some examples (especially in a science classroom) include: 

• Simulations
• Social Media communication
• Cross-cultural collaboration - (so awesome!)
• Presentation

When tech shouldn't be used...
And with my point above, I think it goes without saying that technology shouldn't, and doesn't need to be used all the time - first because it risks losing the intrigue and excitement technology can provide, and second because it disconnects us from personal ways of sharing, communicating, or writing (etc.) that were once the only option available.  Some examples include: 

•  Think-Pair-Share or face-to-face conversation
• Class Discussion
• Data collection  
• Note-taking or writing