tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107060758629396184.post2067972213115788848..comments2024-03-26T23:23:06.905-07:00Comments on Blogger in Middle-earth: Technology Competency & 21st Century LearnersBlogger In Middle-earthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08722634477041121797noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107060758629396184.post-47398906450107223092009-04-29T13:51:00.000-07:002009-04-29T13:51:00.000-07:00Kia ora Virginia!
Thanks for this conversation. Y...Kia ora Virginia!<br /><br />Thanks for this conversation. You have widened the scope of this post.<br /><br />"Teaching the 'skills' of technology" is an excellent topic for a post. Would you consider writing one?<br /><br />Catchya laterBlogger In Middle-earthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08722634477041121797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107060758629396184.post-50398035879886062502009-04-29T04:39:00.000-07:002009-04-29T04:39:00.000-07:00My point was that by just teaching the "skills" of...My point was that by just teaching the "skills" of a technology we aren't teaching the students to learn the "affordances" of a technology. <br /><br />In my experience, students come to new things initially with creativity. Facebook and myspace became what they were because users could use it in any way that met their needs. This is happening with twitter. When we "teach" a technology, however, we tend to destroy this creativity because we say "use this technology this way." Often my kids will say to me, "You can't do that with X technology. We were taught you have to do it THIS way." <br /><br />We need to have a new approach where students are taught the concepts of how any technology can be applied (i.e. for computing, for communication, for editing, for visualization, etc...) then allow them to practice those concepts using a wide variety of technologies. To do this, the instructor needs to change his or her mind set from "teaching the technology" or teaching "technology skills" to a deeper level of analysis.V Yonkershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11910904367068063554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107060758629396184.post-69267050984859653022009-04-27T13:47:00.000-07:002009-04-27T13:47:00.000-07:00Kia ora Virginia
And thanks for clearing up 'affo...Kia ora Virginia<br /><br />And thanks for clearing up 'affordances'.<br /><br />I think we may be veering a little off what I was attempting to put across in this post. If you recall, I explained that the ICT competency was required of teachers "in addition to their understanding of subject knowledge, pedagogy and teaching practice." I would put what you are discussing here (and in context is a valid discussion in itself) as the given pedagogy and teaching practice. I agree that teachers need to look at all the possibilities in using technology with their students.<br /><br />The emphasis that I'm attempting to home in on in this post is the competency that learners <I>per se</I> have in using the technology - how it's understood - not necessarily as applied to teachers and how they may find additional pedagogical uses for the technology (but of course that too).<br /><br />Affordances? <A HREF="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affordance#Affordances_as_action_possibilities" REL="nofollow">Affordances!</A>Catchya laterBlogger In Middle-earthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08722634477041121797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107060758629396184.post-49451621884970189642009-04-27T13:20:00.000-07:002009-04-27T13:20:00.000-07:00By affordance I mean the use of a technology to ac...By affordance I mean the use of a technology to acheive a certain goal. A great example is one I used when teaching marketing. A cola can be used to quench thirst. But it can also be used as a pick me up (like coffee) because of the caffine. My mother used to use it to settle our stomach when I was young (I think it's original purpose). Many people drink it because they like the taste so it fulfills a desire for something sweet. It can also be used to clean jewelry (as many did when I lived in Costa Rica) and/or the build up on car batteries.<br /><br />Likewise, I think each piece of technology can be used for different purposes, not just the ones they were designed for. For example, I use the audio comment to give feedback on student papers. Students can then give me responses (in audio). This can also be done with a podcaste, project software, or even through posting clips on YouTube. The affordance, in this case is creating a audio dialogue around a piece of writing between two people at a distance (either time or space). <br /><br />The concept here would be that it is important to have some audio input in the writing process. There are many technologies to do this and it is the important to find the best that meets the needs and skills of your students. Since many of my students have cameras that allow them to take short video clips and are familiar with You Tube so this is easier to use than the comment function at this point.V Yonkershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11910904367068063554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107060758629396184.post-51224060798879212022009-04-24T20:55:00.000-07:002009-04-24T20:55:00.000-07:00Kia ora Sarah!
Thanks for the link - it looks rea...Kia ora Sarah!<br /><br />Thanks for the link - it looks really interesting and you're right I do like that area of study.<br /><br />I believe that metacognition (a horrible word) is vastly underrated in what it can bring to the learner. I used it for years with my own learning before I knew what it was called.<br /><br />In <A HREF="http://newmiddle-earth.blogspot.com/2009/02/creativity-space-and-time.html" REL="nofollow">a recent post</A>, I included a video by John Cleese who advocates 'sleeping on it'. It works for me.<br /><br />Catchya laterBlogger In Middle-earthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08722634477041121797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107060758629396184.post-31660474466359115312009-04-24T19:28:00.000-07:002009-04-24T19:28:00.000-07:00I would agree with you--its not the technology ski...I would agree with you--its not the technology skills that need to be different. In many ways, one could argue that a 21st Century teacher needs fewer tech skills--s/he just need to be able to type. It the concepts and implications of ubiquity of access that have to be understood, a la Clay Shirky's <I>Here Comes Everybody</I>I'm so glad you referenced metacognition. That and reflection on one's learning are so missing in too many of our intellectual endeavors. <br /><br />Have you read anything about the power of sleeping on an idea? John Medina writes in <I>Brain Rules</I> http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2251306.Brain_Rules_12_Principles_for_Surviving_and_Thriving_at_Work_Home_and_School<br />about the power of learning, practicing, and then re-visiting after sleep. I think you'd like it!<br /><br />Cheers!<br />SarahSarah Hanawaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16562865776353395978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107060758629396184.post-36968122223173477802009-04-24T18:00:00.000-07:002009-04-24T18:00:00.000-07:00Kia ora Virginia!
You are right with your interpr...Kia ora Virginia!<br /><br />You are right with your interpretation of what I said - that concept was not high on the list of understandings for 20th Century teachers. It still isn't for teachers today.<br /><br />I'm not suggesting in any way that concept isn't needed, or that it wasn't needed in 20th Century either. It was and is needed. I maintain that it's still not being understood as a need in understanding ICT. In this respect, I'm really saying that what's needed today by teachers was also needed late 20th Century (by teachers).<br /><br />However, some 'concept' can sometimes be acquired even if it's not introduced in training and the skill to use ICT is practiced by the teacher. Unfortunately, familiarity with the keystrokes and process to use a facility does not necessarily mean that the conceptual elements of it are understood. The understandings aren't happening now and it didn't happen in the 20th Century for the same reasons.<br /><br />Take the common clipboard, for instance. An understanding of what is actually happening when something is copied to the clipboard and pasted somewhere else is rarely a concept that's fully understood. This becomes evident when a learner is asked to explain why a so-called 'print-to-screen' (using the PrtScr key) cannot be pasted onto the Desktop but a copied file from another part of the computer can.<br /><br />The learner who knows that a print-to-screen cannot be pasted onto the Desktop does not necessarily understand the conceptual element that brings an understanding of why it cannot be done. The first, <I>knowing that it can't be done</I>, comes with training and probably some practice, the second, <I>concept and understanding why it can't be done</I>, needs further thinking and perhaps also some understanding about how computers work.<br /><br />A similar area of conceptual understanding lies with image dimension (in cm) compared with file size (in kb or Mb) of the same image file. Learner often grapple with this difference and the real implications for use of the files in these two broad conceptual areas are often not understood.<br /><br />You use the term 'affordances' in the expression 'affordances of different categories of technologies'. I'd like to know more about what you mean by 'affordances' in this context.<br /><br />Catchya laterBlogger In Middle-earthhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08722634477041121797noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2107060758629396184.post-1547832412220773962009-04-24T07:12:00.000-07:002009-04-24T07:12:00.000-07:00I disagree with "But the 21st Century teacher does...I disagree with "But the 21st Century teacher doesn’t need much more in the way of basic ICT skills than a late 20th Century teacher did." <br /><br />It was my experience that the 20th century teacher learned the steps of the technology and then taught those steps to the students. With the changes in ICT that is available, teachers need to understand the role of ICT, put it into context, understand the "concepts" on which different ICT are used. Putting it in terms of your "model", 20th century teachers tended to do just t with some P, rarely (except perhaps at the beginning of the computer age) explaining C. In fact, most technology teachers don't understand the affordances of different catagories of technology.<br /><br />I think this post points out how there needs to be more discussion (and research) on affordances and how it affects learning, context of different affordances and how to determine if a technology has a certain affordance or not. I can access almost any new technology and learn it, but I can also figure out (as our students seem to have the ability) HOW it can be used, modified, and/or shared with others to help them accomplish their (learning) goals.V Yonkershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11910904367068063554noreply@blogger.com