Blog Reflection Week Five (Chapters Five and Six)

1. What is productivity software? How can it be adapted to benefit teaching and learning? What are the advantages and features of electronic spreadsheets? How do you see them as a benefit in an educational environment?

Productivity software, according to the text is “generic business application software that educators can use and adapt for the administrative and professional tasks they must address.” As its name implies, it is primarily useful for making a teacher more productive in what she does behind the scenes. Common examples of productivity software include word processing, spreadsheet, database management, and presentation software. Usually, these basic productivity software types are bundled or packaged together in a “suite” in which each is provided to the user. In this blog post, I will devote my time explaining the educational benefit of electronic spreadsheets, but the other applications are equally important and useful to educators.

One type of productivity software is the electronic spreadsheet, which is used primarily (but not exclusively) for numeric data. An electronic spreadsheet is organized with vertical columns and horizontal rows. Users can enter and edit numeric data into the “cells” as they are called, and then that data can be manipulated using formulas and used to create colorful charts and graphs. This is advantageous to the user because electronic calculation is more accurate than human calculation and is easily modified. A common use of electronic spreadsheets among educators is that of a grade book. Student scores can be entered into the spreadsheet, and a formula can be set to calculate the student’s average. The text also highlights the “what if” function of the spreadsheet, which basically allows the user to input hypothetical data to see what the outcome would be under other circumstances. Furthermore, colorful charts and graphs can be quickly created to represent the data entered into the spreadsheet. The documents are stored in electronic form before and after printing, which makes it easier to edit, organize, and store the documents.

As already mentioned, electronic spreadsheets are useful for administrative functions, such as calculating grades in a grade book, but what is its implication for teaching and learning? As explained in the text, an educator can use spreadsheet software to create graphs of students’ heights. In fact, interpreting graphs and charts is an important mathematics competency in the elementary grades, and can be taught to children through the use of the spreadsheet software. Spreadsheets can also be used to enter data of a science experiment. Formulas and functions can be used to easily calculate certain totals. The ideas are seemingly endless! The point is, spreadsheet software is a type of productivity software that can benefit not only the teacher in his or her administrative tasks, but also the student in his or her learning experience.

Blog Reflection Week Four (Chapter Three and Four)

3. How do increasing computer power, decreasing size, and wireless communications make technology-enhanced classrooms more flexible? What is a virtual environment? What potential does it hold for education?

In the past decade, a computer’s capabilities have increased exponentially. They are now more powerful and have much more extensive memory and storage space. All this has become possible while at the same time, the size of this technology has become smaller and more manageable. Smaller computers and devices have made their use in the classroom more efficient. Even now in my school the technology is replacing large CPU’s and monitors with smaller flat screen and laptops. Not only do these new versions take up less space, but they also are more energy efficient.

One way in which wireless communications make technology-enhanced classrooms more flexible is that it enables the teacher to organize the room with fewer constraints. For example, when wired connections are necessary, the teacher must place her teacher and student workstations in a location where they can be plugged in to the connection. In my third grade classroom, the student computers are not wireless. Therefore, when I was creating my educational environment before the year began, I had no freedom on where I could move the computer tables, because they had to be together by the connection portals. The advantage to wireless communications, however, is that the teacher has the freedom to move his or her classroom computers to other locations in the room, assuming that other power outlets are available.

The text describes a virtual environment as “a combination of hardware and software that together create a digital environment with which you can interact.” A virtual environment is often a three-dimensional world in which you can participate. Often, several pieces of hardware are necessary to successfully interact in a virtual environment, such as a headpiece and a glove. These virtual environments can be simple to complex and have a number of educational uses. The use that is most practical in my opinion is the virtual field trip. Suppose you are teaching a high school French class. You would like to expose your students to French history and culture, but a field trip to a French city would be costly and highly impractical. If the technology is available at your school, you could introduce your students to French history by allowing them to tour the Louvre Museum in Paris, France via a virtual field trip. Imagine the knowledge and understanding each student could gain from interacting with the various artifacts and displays at the Louvre without ever leaving the comfort of their classroom!

The educational implications of these advances in technology are only as restricted as the imaginations of the teachers and students who use them!

Blog Reflection Week Three (Chapter Two)

2. What is the difference between formative feedback and summative feedback?

Instructional design is necessary to create an effective learning environment that incorporates technology. It is the first step in the Design-Plan-Act system. The Dynamic Instructional Design (DID) model is unique in that in contains an important element in which a continuous feedback loop makes certain that the instructional design is functioning properly and effectively.

There are two types of feedback mentioned in the text: formative feedback and summative feedback. Formative feedback occurs within each stage of the DID model. It can even happen while a learning activity or event is taking place and is a continuous measure of successful teaching and learning. Because formative feedback occurs during the design process, changes and manipulations can be made to a teacher’s instructional design to ensure that the learning event is successful.

Formative feedback can be accomplished through observation or derived from data. One example given in the text is that of planning the learning environment for a specific process. The teacher may realize through his or her planning that furniture, lighting, and seating arrangements need to be changed in order to reach an optimal space for the learning goal. Because of formative feedback, the teacher can recognize this need for change, make the necessary adjustments, and then continue in the Dynamic Instructional Design model. All stages of the DID model require formative feedback and continuous adjustments: know the learners, state the objectives, establish the learning environment, identify teaching and learning strategies, identify and select technologies, and make a summative evaluation.

Whereas formative feedback is an ongoing loop throughout each stage of the model, summative feedback is observed or measured at the end of the process. The text refers to summative feedback as the “final check” of the process; however I feel that the summative feedback should be anything but final (48). It is an assessment of whether the transfer of knowledge took place at a satisfactory level. If the transfer was not successful, then adjustments to the DID should be made. Even if a DID was successful, improvements can always find their place.

The key to both forms of feedback is “flexibility.” The educator must come to realize that instructional designs are never set in stone. In fact, the text states, “No design is ever perfect” (62). They are fluid and malleable, and constantly in need of adjusting. Whether a master teacher, or a novice, systematic planning is imperative. Throughout the design and planning process, it imperative that the instructor remains flexible in order to revise plans based on feedback, both formative and summative.

Resource: Lever-Duffy and McDonald, Teaching and Learning with Technology, 3rd ed.