A teacher's place in the digital divide

Warschauer, M. (2007). A teacher's place in the digital divide. In L. Somlin, K. Lawless, & N. C. Burbules (eds.) Information and communication technologies: Considerations of current practice for teachers and teacher educators. The 106th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part 2. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Types of digital difference

• School access: unequal availability of digital technology in schools (between high- & low-SES; new tech benefits high performance students while exlcuding at-risk students)
  
• Home access: high- & low-SES families
  
• School use: student income and race correlate strongly with the type of use students make of computers in schools
  
• Gender gap: boys - more computer games; girls - more communicate & network
  
• Generation gap: digital natives vs digital immigrants

21st century skills

• Digital-age literacy
  
  • Basic, scientific, economic, and technological literacies
  • Visual and information literacies
  • Multicultural literacy and global awareness
    
• Inventive thinking
  
  • Adaptability, managing complexity, and self-direction
  • Curiosity, creativity, and risk taking
  • Higher order thinking and sound reasoning
    
• Effective communication
  
  • Teaming, collaboration, and interpersonal skills
  • Personal, social, and civic responsibility
  • Interactive communication
    
• High productivity
  
  • Prioritizing, planning, and managing for results
  • Effective use of real-word tools
  • Ability to produce relevant, high-quality products

Three challenges related to technology use in schools

• Workability: coordinating technology use (scheduling rooms, arranging and maintaining software, hardware, and network connections). Low-SES schools have higher turnover rates;
• Complexity: standardized testing increased complexity in integrating technology into instruction;
• Performativity: technological performance for its own sake rather than in connection with meaningful learning goals

Solution

• To complexity and workability: providing students and teachers more consistent and reliable access to computers and the Internet (through one-to-one programs or leveraging other tech resources in schools and communities)
• To performativity: instructional approaches that focus not only on mastery of tech applications, but also on broad learning goals related to academic content (e.g., developing both tech skills & academic expertise around topics related to students' life experiences)
  

The benefits of the laptop classroom

• teaching and learning of 21st-century learning skills (becoz constant access)
  
• greater student engagement (becoz the use of multimedia)
  
• increase in the quantity and quality of student writing (ease, feedback, professionalism)
• deeper learning (project-based work)
  

Digital Divide

In this era of rapid social and technological change, we need to rethink what modern education is and how it relates to the country’s leading position in world economy. As it stands, the education industry, like media, manufacturing, transportation, and other industries, will be “out of business” if led by mediocrity. The NETP, powered by the No Child Left Behind Act, is to “raise expectations and produce results” and thus “turn multiple opportunities for success into reality for our nation’s nearly 50 million student.”

I applaud the U.S. Department of Education’s foresight and determination in shepherding a “systemic change” in education -- especially the 7 Major Action Steps which has laid out a long-term strategical framework. It seems that the USDE has sufficiently realized how vital it is to create a new student-teacher partnership and to eliminate the “digital disconnect” between them. However, it remains a complicated issue on filling the gap between today’s technology-savvy students and their comparatively technology-behind teachers. Simply put, how the educators who are “digital immigrants” teach their students who are “digital natives”?

Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach. They represent the first generations to grow up with the new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, videogames, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. Computer games, email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives. They are, as Marc Prensky designated, “Digital Natives”. The rest of us, who were not born into this digital world but later became fascinated by and adopted the new technology, consist of “Digital Immigrants.”

The serious problem of this in education is, as Prensky asserted, “our Digital Immigrant instructors, who speak an outdated language (that of the pre-digital age), are struggling to teach a population that speaks an entirely new language.”

As a matter of fact, most Digital Immigrants like you and I will constantly confront this “Native/Immigrant Divide” when dealing with the young generation. It is not only about the different technology skill level or a generation gap that we have, but also about the difference between our thinking patterns and our languages! You keep asking yourself, what does that mean? Who can be your translator? What on earth do they want?

As it stands, understanding the “digital disconnect” is one thing, but how to handle it is another. There is still a long way to go in terms of “catching-up”. Probably the more urgent question for now is not how the Digital Immigrants teach the Digital Narratives, but who teaches the Digital Immigrants.

Oversold and Underused

Maximal Access, Minimal Change: Review of Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom

Overview

Many educators, public officials, business leaders, and parents argue that school computers and Internet access will improve academic learning and prepare students for an information-based workplace. In an effort to examine the validity of this argument, Larry Cuban provides a critical look at the actual use of computers by teachers and students in early childhood education, high school and university classrooms in Oversold and Underused: Computers in the Classroom. Combining an historical overview of school technologies with statistical data and direct observation of classroom practices in several Silicon Valley schools, he concludes that, "Without a broader vision of the social and civic role that schools perform in a democratic society, our excessive focus on technology use in schools runs the danger of trivializing our nation's core ideals"(P.197).

Key Points

The key points of the book are surrounded by the discussions on the following questions:

(1) What were the goals of promoting computer technology in schools? Was that supposed to be “transformative" or just a means of "catch up" for teachers and students?
(2) How do teachers and students use computers in classrooms for instruction in schools where computers are readily available such as those Silicon Valley schools?
(3) Have the promotion and investment in computer technologie changed the landscape of the teaching and learning? Why or why not?
(4) Are the technology investment in schools worth the cost?

In order to answer those questions, Cuban offers three explanations to the unexpected findings and outcomes of his work: (a) the slow change will eventually transform teaching and learning; (b) history and context of teaching -- gaps between different sectors of society and the beliefs that these people hold influence what happens in the classroom; and (c) culturally constrained choice -- while teachers’ beliefs and values reflect what they do in the classroom and while they choose what to endorse, reject, and modify, they are still influenced by the structure of American institutions (p.170).

However, Cuban does not fully validate these explanations. He asserts that computers have been oversold by policy makers and technology marketers, and underused by teachers and students. To fully deploy new technologies reform, he suggests that teachers, parents, policy makers, workplace leaders, and other stake-holders should work closely to build stronger communities and citizens with technology and achieve larger social and civic goals through financial investment (Lomicka, 2003).

Limitations of the Study

Although Cuban’s study is profound and scholarly, I found the following flaws that might have weakened the strength of the research.

(1) The statistic data in the book was accurate at the time the research was conducted. But some of them, such as school profiles, frequency of home use, and the use of technology in a college setting, are extremely outdated today.
(2) I do not quite understand why Cuban would think that “neither age, experience, nor gender was a significant factor in our data” (P.98). These variables sometimes produce quite different results, according to a recent research based on the understanding of the digital divide from a multicultural education framework which indicates that “equal access is considerably different from equitable access” (Gorski, 2002).
(3) In Cuban’s study, students surveyed in the schools reported little to no use of computers in foreign language classes. However, according to a language professor (Lomicka, 2003), it may be interesting to “conduct a longitudinal study documenting the use of computers in second language classrooms.” “Had Cuban included observations that document the recent growth and development of telecollaborative work”, Lomicka suggests. “Perhaps findings in the area of language learning may have yielded somewhat different results in his research.”

Questions and Thoughts

Finally, there are a couple of questions and thoughts that I came up with during the reading. I hope they will be helpful for my further study.

(1) Can we afford such a luxurious experiment on the adoption of computer technology in classrooms? How big is the risk that stakeholders are taking by doing that?
(2) What are the changes in the classrooms since Cuban’s research was conducted? Actually we don’t see much of that, if any. And will the next decade see the same scenario (or even worse due to the education budget cut)?
(3) On the one hand, when teachers are not given a say in how the technology might reshape schools, “computers are merely souped-up typewriters and classrooms continue to run much as they did a generation ago.” On the other end, the pressures and the traditions that block many teachers from making more powerful use of these new tools exacerbate the former. Will this form a vicious circle of technology use struggling in a dungeon that Cuban called the “slow revolution?”

Although Cuban does not provide answers for these questions, like he does not point out how technology investments can be turned into impressive learning gains, his examination of the unexpected outcomes should to a large extent help technology planners and educational leaders improve their future efforts, and, more or less, “remind us of the deepest civic and humane goals of education” (Wald, 2003).

References

Cuban, L. (2001). Oversold and underused: computers in the classroom. Library of Congress.

Wald, R. (2003).Radical teacher book review. Available online at http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0JVP/is_2003_Spring/ai_102119717

Lomicka, L. (2003). Review of Oversold and Underused. Language Learning and Technology, Vol. 7, No. 3.

Gorski, P. (2002). Dismantling the digital divide: A multicultural education framework. Modern Education online, Fall 2002. Available online at http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3935

Policy Review

Education Technology Policy Review: A Power-On Yesterday, a Transforming Today and a New Golden-Age Tomorrow

Overview

From the 1980s’ stand-alone computers, to the 1990s’ network-based multimedia, to the 21st century’s wireless campus, educational technology has evolved significantly. Consequentially, educators’ visions and the policies of the technology have changed as well. The educational technology policy documents over the past 20 years, from A Nation at Risk of 1983 to PCAST Report 1997, from the No Child Left BehindAct of 2001 (NCLB) to the new National Education Technology Plan 2004, have addressed multiple aspects of understanding the process of using technological tools to change teaching practices and improve learning outcomes. These aspects, however, has drawn three distinct approaches to thinking about and investing in technology. They are: investing in technology to support specific and long term needs of educators, transforming education through technology, and matching technologies to public priorities for educational improvement (Culp, Honey, & Mandinach, 2003). After a brief review of these documents in chronological order, I found that three policies, including one from the 80’s, 90’s and 00’s, have played important roles in developing our vision for how technologies can impact teaching and learning. These particular documents helped to shape how we view the promise and potential of technology in education and marked significant steps in the evolution of educational technology enlightened by the spirit of the A Nation at Risk report and the NCLB Legislation.

The 80s – a Power-On Yesterday

The educational reform reports of the 1980's were being issued parallel to the establishment of the personal computer and interactive technologies as important tools in education. Both the reform reports and the emergence of new technologies during the 1980's pointed to the American economic transition occurring simultaneously (Doyle, 1994). According to A Nation at Risk report, schools were seen as failing to turn out productive citizens as well as failing in academic preparation. The needs of the American marketplace were changing from an industrial orientation to that of information/service. This would lend impetus to the reform movement by the business community. Educational Technology policies such as Power On! New Tools for Teaching and Learning initiated by this reform movement, were to study the potential of interactive learning tools for improving the quality of education. The Power On report also “analyzed the technological, economic, and institutional barriers to achieving the technologies future promise” (OTA, 1988).

During this period, however, there was no best solution for all level of government and school districts to develop a comprehensive plan and to share funding responsibilities. Although interactive technologies were identified as powerful and important educational tools, they were not able to be fully developed due to lack of a unifying conception.

The 90s – Transforming for Today

With the emergence of the Internet and technology becoming more a central force in economic competitiveness, policies in mid-90s have changed the focus from technology as tools to technology as a driver of school reform. Instead of focusing on isolated, skills-based uses of technology, Panel on Educational Technology under the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) claimed that schools should promote the use of various technologies for sophisticated problem-solving and information-retrieving purposes (Panel on Educational Technology, 1997).

One of the major voices of the documents during this period is the emphasis on infusion of technology into the curriculum to promote learning through the technology instead of learning the technology. As articulated in the Report to the President on the Use of Technology to Strenghen K-12 Education in the United States (PCAST 1997), school should be transformed to a place where students should be introduced to and instructed through the technology as a tool for understanding, exploration, and problem solving. The documents in this decade primarily advocated improving access, connectivity and infrastructure as well as defining and promoting the roles of multiple stakeholders.

The 21st Century – Towards a New Golden-Age Tomorrow

The launch of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 further deepened education reform in the 21st century with new standards of accountability. Driven by the NCLB, recommendations focusing on the need for new regulations and policies regarding educational technology have emerged. The National Education Technology Plan (NETP) 2004 generated a big-picture vision of what is possible using technology in education today. It highlights the major challenges and opportunities of education technology, offers examples of successful school technology programs, and presents seven action steps and a series of recommendations. The NETP is not a top-down document from the federal government; it has meant as a comparison and a framework, grounded in practice and reality (Jackson, 2005). By matching technologies to public priorities for educational improvement, the plan started a campaign that will accelerate “a nation on the move” towards a new golden age.

The Changes and the Challenges

Within the defining frame of the A Nation at Risk report and the NCLB legislation, the policies reviewed have empowered the technology to renovate traditional education landscape and gradually changed the conversation from integration to transformation. Meanwhile, the under-funding of the NCLB, digital divide/disconnect, lack of adequate training, and lack of understanding of how technology can be used to enrich the learning experience seem to have posed both physical and philosophical challenges on the evolution of these policies. However, with some latest policies pointing out some solutions such as using the existing resources and budget creatively, creating a new student-teacher partnership, and strengthening leaderships at every level, we are cautiously optimistic about the future of the technology-based educational improvement.

REFERENCES

Cetron, et al. (2003). A forecast for schools. Educational Leadership, vol.61, Issue 4
Dildine, J. (1999).Technology-incentive instruction with high performing and low performing middle school mathematics students. Available online at http://www.mste.uiuc.edu/dildine/thesis/

Doyle, C. (1994). Technology impact. Available online at http://learning.kern.org/tlc_resources/stories/storyReader$21?print-friendly=true

Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). (2001). No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Available online at http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/esea02/index.html

Jackson, L. (2005). The National Educational Technology Plan: an interview with OET Director Susan Patrick. Available online at http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech/tech212.shtml
Office of Technology Assessment. (1988). Power on! New tools for teaching and learning (OTA- SET-379). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. Available on line at http://www.wws.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/byteserv.prl/~ota/disk2/1988/8831/8831.PDF

National Commission on Excellence in Education. (1983). A Nation at Risk. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.

President Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology, Panel on Educational Technology. (1997). Report to the president on the use of technology to strengthen K-12 education in the United States. Washington, DC: Author. Available online at http://www.ostp.gov/PCAST/k-12ed.html

U.S. Department of Eduation. (2003). A Retrospective on Twenty Years of Education Technology Policy. Washington, DC: Author. Available online at http://www.nationaledtechplan.org/participate/20years.pdf

U.S. Department of Eduation. (2005). Toward a New Golden Age in American Education: how the Internet, the law and today’s students are revolutionizing expectations. Washington, DC: Author.

Choosing & using educational software: A teachers' guide

Squires, D., & McDougall, A. (1994). Choosing & using educational software: A teachers' guide. London: Falmer.

Chapter 6. Frameworks for studying educational software

1. Categorization (Classification by Application Type)

Two types

• Content-free (generic): in terms of the tasks it can perform (e.g. word, spreadsheets)
• Subject-specific: used in the teaching and learning of specific topics (e.g., science simulations, foreign language practice programs, arithmetic drill programs)

Problems

• criteria implicit, no clear rationale
• sensitive (increasing range requires constant revision & updating)
• some integrated software don't fall neatly into any one classification

2. Role (Classification by Educational Role)

Three modes

• Tutor: a surrogate teacher (e.g., drill & practice exercises, adaptive tutorial programs)
• Tool: useful capability programed into the computer (e.g., statistical analysis, word, graphics packages, data logging, info handling)
• Tutee: learners "teach" the computer through expressing their ideas and solutions to problems (e.g., Logo)

Problems

• Founded on the premise that the scope and nature of the software environment defines educational possibilities
• Focus on the software rather than the teacher and learner
• Ignoring important issues of teaching and learning

3. Rationale (Classification by Educational Rationale)

Four paradigms

• Instructional: mastery of content (sequencing, presentation, feedback reinforcement)
  
• Revelatory: learning by discovery & developing an intuitive feel for the field of study. student is the prime focus (e.g., simulation)
  
• Conjectural: the articulation and manipulation of ideas and hypothesis testing. Emphasis: development of understanding through the active construction of knowledge (e.g., Logo)
• Emancipatory: exploits the capacity of the computer to process large amounts of data dand perform many operations very quickly, to save students from spending time on laborious tasks that are necessary but incidental to their learning

Problems

• Tendency to regard software as belonging exclusively to one paradigm
• No consideration of the learning process

Chapter 7-10. A Perspectives Interactions Paradigm for studying Educational Software

The focus shall shift from attributes of the software itself (e.g., what does this package do? How does this program run?) to the use of software to enhance teaching and learning (e.g., what kinds of learning experiences might be set up or assisted by this package? What approaches to teaching fit this package?)

Three major "actors": the student(s), the teacher, and the designer

• Teacher-student link: direct 2-way physical and social interactions initiated or sponsored by the software; students more actively engaged in thinking and learning; teacher roles - Resource provider, manager, coach, researcher, facilitator
  
• Designer-student link: how student relate to and use software (cognitive development and human-computer interaction); learning theories: behaviorism (stimulus-response mechanism, e.g., Skinner, 1938) vs constructivism (learning as a process of accommodation and assimilation in which learners modify their internal cognitive structures through experience, e.g., Piaget); Three aspects of software design: learner control, complexity, challenge
  
  • What are the levels of learner control, task complexity, and challenge offered by the package?
  • How effective is the design in affording learners the intended level of control/
  • How are learners helped to cope with the complexity of the software?
  • What methods and approaches are used to provide learners with a challenge?
    
• Designer-teacher link: curriculum and associated pedagogies (curriculum development and approaches to teaching); relationship of the software to the curriculum (implicit, explicit, absent)
  
  • Identify implicit curriculum aims
  • Match explicit and implicit curriculum aims to perceived specific curriculum requirements
  • Realize the possibilities of 'subverting' explicit and implicit curriculum aims to specific curriculum requirements
  • Realize the educational possibilities of the use of software which initially has no explicit or implicit curriculum aims (e.g., The Geometric Supposer shifts from seeking answers to encouraging inquiry and investigation)

Chapter 11. Choosing and Using Educational Software

• Teacher/student
  
  • Selection
    
    • Implied role(s) of the teacher in the classroom
    • Expectations of the nature of classroom interactions
    • Customization: pedagogy
  • Evaluation
    
    • Actual role(s) of the teacher in the classroom
    • Observed nature of classroom interactions
    • Customization: pedagogy
      
• Designer/student
  
  • Selection
    
    • Implicit/explicit/absent theories of learning
    • User (student) access features
      
  • Evaluation
    
    • Appropriateness and effectiveness of theories of learning
    • Ease and extent of user (student) access
      
• Designer/teacher
  
  • Selection
    
    • Implicit/explicit/absent curriculum aims: content and process
    • Customization: content
      
  • Evaluation
    
    • Customization: content

TCOM670 Final Project

Name of the Project: Heart of the Dragon

Format: Web

Software Used: RapidWeaver, FinalCult Pro, HTML, iPhoto, Google Calendar

URL: http://wma.iweb.bsu.edu/china_documentary

Project Description:

This website was designed as an online showcase, archive, progress monitor, production log, planning and communication platform, and database for the production team of the documentary The Heart of The Dragon.

The Heart of The Dragon is a TV documentary produced for “Digital Insight”, a bi-weekly television show that airs on WIPB TV in Muncie. This documentary features Chinese cultural values and cross-cultural communication between the Chinese and Americans. During the planning stage of the documentary, I felt that there was a need for a website which will provide an online platform for the production team. I started this website in February.

The website consists of nine main pages:

1. Home. A brief introduction of the show.
2. About Us. An introduction of the production team.
3. Production Plan. This page presents the original production plan. A Google Calendar was embedded in the subpage to keep the team members informed with the latest schedule.
4. Interviews. An introduction of the interviewees and their stories. Five subpages, each for one interviewee, are nested in this page.
5. Video. This page contains the scripts, logs, and transcripts of the interview. Three video clips (H.264 web streaming) were embedded in the subpages. Their themes are: Family Values, Life Attitude, and Cross-Cultural Communication.
6. Snapshot. A collection of pictures about culture and production scenes.
7. Production Log. This is an ongoing blog that records the process of the production, including meeting minutes, problems, issues and progress in shooting and editing.
8. Resources. Online assets and information that are useful for the show.
9. Contact Us.

Summary

Based on the feedback from my colleagues and teammates, this site has met the original goals. Not only did it help put various pieces together and keep things on track, but also promoted this show in many ways.

On the technology side, I enjoyed the software I chose to develop this site. This was the first time for me to use RapidWeaver to develop a Web site. With my previous experiences in web design (basically DreamWeaver and Apple iWeb), I found this software very user-friendly and powerful. It is easy to learn and allows multimedia integration. Advanced features such as template-based design, iLfe integration, smart publishing, power blogging, and the dual mode of coding/design greatly enhanced both functional and aesthetic design of the pages.

In conclusion, thoughtful planning of the structure, considerate analysis of the needs, and appropriate selection of the tools lead to a well functional website.

RapidWeaver vs iWeb

Here are some observations based on my experiences as a user and a technology support person.

For beginners who don't have any concept about web development these two software might not be of much differences - they were both WYSIWYG, theme-based, Mac only, easy to learn. They both have growing size problem. However, as they advanced to a higher level, the difference will become significant on the following issues:

1. Publish. iWeb publish is no doubt cumbersome as comparing to RapidWeaver's "Smart Publish" (direct FTP publish; automatic folder generation; only publish the changes)

2. Professional web development. RapidWeaver offers both edit/code mode and design mode (similar to DreamWeaver) that allow the user to work on html, css, xml coding. The external plug-ins (e.g., Multitool, Buttonbuilder/Themebuilder) provide potential powers for a more professional design.

3. Blogging. While both offer blogging features, RapidWeaver has more powerful features such as categorization and tagging. This allows the user to create a database that is easy to track and sort. Too often this relational database concept is ignored.

4. Domain file. Both are saved as a highly compressed domain files. I've been seeing students come to me with broken iWeb domain files because those files were moved from one place to another. However, RapidWeaver doesn't have that problem. I put a iweb domain.site file and a rapidweaver .rw3 file in my iLocker world_shared folder. When you open the http link (see here) you'll see that .rw3 holds together tightly as a sigle file while .site file are broken into multiple pieces of segmented files. In addition, it is risky and inconvenient when students try to get the .site file from its niche (library/Application Support/iWeb). HOWEVER, .rw3 won't copy all the files you link in itself while .site literally will bring everything you put in your site with it. (This might be a concern for RapidWeaver when you open the .rw in another computer or move it to a different location. The link will be missing.)

5. Other "invisible" problems. Here are some issues I found from students who came to iStudio for iWeb help, while I haven't seen these happen in RapidWeaver.

Overall on a 4-point scale I would rate RW as 3.5 and iWeb as 2.5.

If we're going to promote RW at TC we probably need to deal with the following issues:

1. Try to convince faculty the advantages of using RW. I know some of them may not be happy with a new implementation as they just got comfortable with iWeb. Teaming up with faculty who have good knowledge about and positive attitudes toward technology might work.

2. Support time, resources, and manpower. The need for support will be intensive and important at the early stage. Online tutorials, workshops, lab clinics, in-class instructions will need to be carefully scheduled and/or based on requests. Intro courses such as EDTEC120 and EDSEC150 can be integrated with the RW components and will play an important role in the implementation.

3. Continuing iWeb (and composer) support while shifting to RW. Use successful student samples as promotion for RW.

EDSEC380

Hi folks, here are some online resources for WebQuest development. Hope they help.

• Wei's WebQuest Page
  Side bar on the right: WebQuest intro, NetScape Composer tutorials)
  
• WebQuest Tasknomy
• IPS WebQuest Pool
• Official WebQuest Site
• A WebQuest about WebQuests
  
• RapidWeaver tutorial
• iWeb support
  

___________________________________

In-class exercise Please critique the following example WebQuests. Determine the best and the worst two: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Analyze several paths to success
Gallery of Art-i-Facts Design and fill an art museum wing
Conflict Yellowstone Wolves Take a stand on the reintroduction of wolves
The Gilded Age Create a documentary on this historical period
Extra, Extra Analyze the world of the Great Gatsby Each group will have an Efficiency Expert, an Affiliator, an Altitudinist, and a Technophile. Report the final results to class. Source: http://webquest.sdsu.edu/webquestwebquest.html http://wma.iweb.bsu.edu/webquest/webquest.htm

iWeb-based portfolio

• Apple iWeb and Ball State iWeb
  Apple iWeb is the web creation tool in Apple iLife applications. Ball State iWeb is the web space hosting your digital portfolio or other sites you create.
  
• Why Apple iWeb for digital portfolio?
  A WYSIWYG web design application, Apple iWeb offers a variety of templates and powerful built-in features that allow users to easily create professional-look websites.
  
• Get started with your portfolio construction
  
  • Get VPN, Fetch, and your Ball State iWeb account ready
    
  • Planning your website
    
  • Open iWeb, create a site folder (File>New Site and then choose a template)
  • Rename the site to "Home" (Ctrl click on "Site" and choose "Rename")
  • Rename the page under "Home" to "Index"
  • File>New Page if you need to add more web pages
  • Create another site and call it "INTASC_Principles," create an Index page and 10 principle pages. Copy and paste the text of the principles to each page and change the title accordingly.
  • Create a site called Artifacts, and add several pages for your artifacts.
  • You may start adding your rationale/reflection to INTASC and artifacts pages, and connecting artifacts to the INTASC principles.
    
  • Make navigation bars and/or hyperlinks that allow you to navigate from one page to another
  • When it's done, File>Publish to a Folder, make sure you save it to a right folder (usually a "Sites" folder under the "little house" icon on the sidebar of the Finder window)
    
  • Open VPN, Fetch, and publish your site to your Ball State iWeb server by drag and drop all the files in your "Sites" folder into Fetch window (before you do this, make sure you don't have anything important that has already in your Ball State iWeb space. You don't want to overwrite it.)
    
  • Your BSU iweb URL will be:
    http://yourusername.iweb.bsu.edu
    The default page it opens on the Internet will be the Index page, or whichever page located on the top of the sidebar of your iWeb design window.
    
• Here are two screen casts created by Dr. Clausen
  
  • Publish iWeb site to a folder
  • Essential iWeb files to back up
• FAQ
  Click here for some frequently asked questions
  Click here for some troubleshooting skills
  

Mac or PC video

Tech support for EDSEC150 class

1. Apple laptop in education
   
   • Ubiquitous computing
   • Requirement for Teacher Education students
     
   • Apple education
     
2. Ball State IT environment
   
   • Content Management System: from Vignette to Sitecore
     
   • Course Management System: Blackboard
   • Assessment System: rGrade, Gradebook
   • Security: VPN, AntiVirus
     
   • Web Publishing: iWeb, FrontPage, Netscape, Fetch
   • Online Storage: iLocker, iWeb
   • Social networking: iConnect
   • Student Information Management System (Main Frame)
     
3. What you should know about your Mac laptop
   
   • Mac101
   • Mac Learning Center
     
   • iLife Suite: iWeb, iDVD, iMovie, iPhoto, iTunes, GarageBand
     
4. Where shall I go for help/training
   
   • iCare Corner (TC lobby)
   • Portfolio Lab (TC 709)
   • iStudio (TC 406) (see my work schedule here)
   • Online training: ElementK, TechClips, Other
     
5. Q & A
   

BSU Teacher Education IT Environment

Ball State Teachers College requires all teacher educator students to use Apple laptops. Here is the rationale (retrieved from Teachers College website)

1. Why Laptops in Teacher Education?

• Access to computing in all contexts of the academic experience. Teacher education majors are a mobile group. They need access to computing in their courses, at home, and in the field experiences, which includes their student teaching.
• Control of one's own computing destiny. A laptop is one's personal information infrastructure. All their course work, from documents to very large video files, can be taken wherever they need it. Students will be in charge of their own infrastructure and will grow in technology competence because of it.
• Customized uses in teacher education coursework. Various courses in the teacher education program require unique uses of computers. Laptops give faculty and students the freedom to experiment with computing and to explore how it affects teaching and learning without the confines of a stationary lab.
• For further exploration. Many teacher education programs around the country are requiring laptops in teacher education. Through the BSU PT3 project, we have already been experimenting with laptop use in teacher education courses. It is also a trend in K-12 schools for which there are many benefits.

2. Why a Requirement for Laptops?

• Digital portfolios. All teacher education majors are now required to produce a digital, Web-based portfolio to represent their competence with teaching and learning. To better facilitate this in university instruction, faculty need to be assured that all of their students have the best tools to complete the portfolio work in university classrooms and at home.
• All students on equal footing. Our goal is to saturate the teacher education program with advanced computing and to make sure that all students have the same opportunities. This recommendation assures faculty that no student is left out.
• Support and infrastructure. With a large number of laptop-owning students, we can leverage the size of the BSU teacher education program to specialized support services and better information systems design. Computer vendors can design specialized support services knowing they have a fixed number of purchases per year. BSU can negotiate better deals on the purchase price when working with one vendor. We are also tuning our information infrastructure to take advantage of the anticipated critical mass of students who bring to class a state-of-the-art computer.
• Promote technology competency in the teaching profession. With each teacher education major owning a laptop, Ball State University makes clear it believes that computers are an indispensable tool for teachers. The sooner teachers take ownership of this idea—physical and professional—the sooner they can influence how children learn with computers.

3. Why Apple Macintosh Computers?

• Lower cost. With its built-in Firewire ports, iSight camera, and integrated wireless card, the MacBook is $300-$1000 less expensive than similarly equipped laptops from other vendors.
• Tuned for digital media. Digital media is revolutionizing how teachers represent learning and how they design their teaching. The features that the MacBook and MacBook Pro possess are exactly what future teachers need to be exploring: digital video (via iMovie and iDVD), digital imaging (via iPhoto), and advanced Web publishing (via OS X and WebDAV servers on the BSU campus).
• Form factor. The size and structure of the MacBook and MacBook Pro are designed for the physical rigors of university life. These laptops are small enough to fit on a lecture desk yet they possess a bright, easy-to read display. They have all the connections most commonly used (networking, peripheral ports, microphone, speakers, camera, etc.) built in, so no cards or additional devices are needed.
• Wireless connectivity. Apple was the first computer manufacturer to integrate wireless (802.11b/g/n) networking into their product line. Without any configuration needed, students can access the Internet from anywhere on Ball State's wireless campus.
• Apple's strengths in teacher education and K-12 schools. Apple's history in education dates back to the early 1980s, when they sponsored the Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT) Project, which was a 10-year study of teacher practice with computers. ACOT is still considered the most important, long-term study of teaching and learning with computers. Apple "gets" teacher education and K-12 computing. Their solutions are designed for professionals in these areas.
• Internet and industry standards. With the newest Macintosh operating system, OS X, Apple has leveraged the industry-standard Unix operating system to its easy-to-use Macintosh user interface. The result is an incredibly powerful and open-source platform with which software developers can freely design new applications. Also, OS X will run the tens of thousands of educational applications that already exist in K-12 schools.

For more information about Apple's philosophy on laptops in teacher education, see:
www.apple.com/education

For more information about Apple's philosophy on laptops in education, see:
www.apple.com/education/products/macbook/

For more information about Apple's initiatives on technology in teacher education, see:
www.apple.com/education/hed/coe/

Educational research : competencies for analysis and applications (3): Evaluating a report

Gay, L. R., Mills, G. E., & Airasian, P. (2006). Educational research : competencies for analysis and applications (8th Ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Chapter 22. Evaluating a research report (p. 541)

General evaluation criteria

1. Introduction

1.1. Problem (p. 542)

• Is there a statement of the problem? Does the problem indicate a particular focus of study?
• Is the problem "researchable"; that is, can it be investigated through collecting and analyzing data?
• Is background information on the problem presented?
• Is the educational significance of the problem discussed?
• Does the problem statement indicate the variables of interest and the specific relationship between those variables that were investigated?
• When necessary, are variables directly or operationally defined?
• Did the researcher have the knowledge and skills to carry out the research?

1.2. Literature Review

• Is the review comprehensive?
• Are all cited references relevant to the problem under investigation?
• Are most of the sources primary (i.e., are there only a few or no secondary sources)?
• Have the references been analyzed and critiqued and the results of various studies compared and contrasted? That, is the review more than a series of abstracts or annotations?
• Is the relevancy of each reference explained?
• Is the review well organized? Does it logically flow in such a way that the references least related to the problem are discussed first and lose most related are discussed last? Does it educate the reader about the problem or topic?
• Does the review conclude with a summary and interpretation of the literature and its implications for the problem investigated?
• Do the implications discussed form an empirical or theoretical rationale for the hypotheses that follow?
• Are references cited completely and accurately?

1.3. Hypotheses

• Are specific research questions listed or specific hypotheses stated?
• Does each hypothesis state an expected relationship or difference?
• If necessary, are variables directly or operationally defined?
• Is each hypothesis testable?

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2. Method (p. 543)

2.1. Participants

• Are the size and major characteristics of the population studied?
• Are the accessible and target populations described?
• If a sample was selected, is the method of selecting the sample clearly described?
• Does the method of sample selection suggest any limitations or biases in the sample? For example, was stratified sampling used to obtain sample described?
• If the study is quantitative, does the sample size meet the suggested guidelines for the minimum sample size appropriate for the method of research represented?

2.2. Instruments

• Do instruments and their administration meet guidelines for protecting human subjects? Were needed permissions obtained?
• Is the rationale given for the selection of the instruments (or measurements) used?
• Are the purpose, content, validity, and reliability of each instruments described?
• Are the instruments appropriate for measuring the intended variables?
• Does the researcher have the needed skills or experience to construct or administer an instrument?
• Is evidence presented to indicate that the instruments are appropriate for the intended sample? For example, is the reading level of an instrument suitable for sample participants?
• If appropriate, are subtest reliabilities given?
• If an instrument was developed specifically for the study, are the procedures involved in its development and validation described?
• If an instrument was developed specifically for the study, are administration, scoring or tabulating, and interpretation procedures fully described?
• Was the correct type of instrument used for data collection (or, for example, was a norm-referenced instrument used when a criterion-referenced one was more suitable)?

2.3. Design and procedure

• Are the design and procedures appropriate for examining the research question or testing the hypotheses of the study?
• Are the procedures described in sufficient detail to permit replication by another researcher?
• Do procedures logically relate to one another?
• Were instruments and procedures applied correctly?
• If a pilot study was conducted, are its execution and results described as well as its effect on the subsequent study?
• Are control procedures described?
• Does the researcher discuss or account for any potentially confounding variable that he or she was unable to control

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3. Results

• Are appropriate descriptive statistics presented?
• Was the probability level at which the results of the tests of significance were evaluated specified in advance of the data analyses? Was every hypothesis tested?
• If parametric tests were used, is there evidence that the researcher avoided violating the required assumptions for parametric tests?
• Are the described tests of significance appropriate, given the hypotheses and design of the study?
• Was the inductive logic used to produce results in a qualitative study made explicit?
• Are the tests of significance interpreted using the appropriate degrees of freedom?
• Are the results clearly described?
• Are the tables and figures (if any) well organized and easy to understand?
• Are the data in each table and figure described in the text?

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4. Discussion

• Is each result discussed in terms of the original hypothesis or topic to which it relates?
• Is each result discussed in terms of its agreement or disagreement with previous results obtained by other researchers in other studies?
• Are generalizations consistent with the results?
• Are the possible effects of uncontrolled variables on the results discussed?
• Are theoretical and practical implications of the findings discussed?
• Are recommendations for future action made?
• Are the suggestions for future action based on practical significance or on statistical significance only (i.e., has the author avoided confusing practical and statistical significance)?

----------------------------------------------------------------
5. Abstract or Summary

• Is the problem restated?
• Are the number and type of subjects and instruments described?
• Is the design used identified?
• Are procedures described?
• Are the major results and conclusions restated?

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Type-specific evaluation criteria

1. Qualitative research (in general)

• Does the topic studied describe a general sense of the study focus?
• Does the researcher state a "guiding hypothesis" for the investigation?
• Is the application of the qualitative method chosen described in detail?
• Is the context of the qualitative study described in detail?
• Is the purposive sampling procedure described and related to the study focus?
• Is each data collection strategy described?
• Is the researcher's role stated (e.g., nonparticipant observer, participant observer, interviewer, etc.)?
• Is the research site and the researcher's entry into it described?
• Were the data collection strategies used appropriately, given the purpose of the study?
• Were strategies used to strengthen the validity and reliability of the data (e.g. triangulation)
• Is there a description of how any unexpected ethical issues were handled?
• Are strategies used to minimize observer bias and observer effect described?
• Are the researcher's reactions and notes differentiated from descriptive field notes?
• Are data coding strategies described and examples of coded data given?
• Is the inductive logic applied to the data to produce results stated in detail?
• Are conclusions supported by data (e.g., are direct quotations from participants used to illustrate points made)?
  

1.1. Interview studies

• Were the interview procedures pretested?
• Are pilot study procedures and results described?
• Does each item in the interview guide relate to a specific objective of the study?
• When necessary, is a point of reference given in the guide for interview items?
• Are leading questions avoided in the interview guide?
• Is the language and complexity of the questions appropriate for the participants?
• Does the interview guide indicate the type and amount of prompting and probing that was permitted?
• Are the qualifications and special training of the interviewers described?
• Is the method used to record responses described?
• Did the researcher use the most reliable, unbiased method of recording response that could have been used?
• Does the researcher specify how the response to semistructured and unstructured items were quantified and analyzed?

2. Ethnographic research

• Does the written account (the ethnography) capture the social, cultural, economic themes that emerged from the study?
• Did the researcher spend a "full cycle" in the field studying the phenomenon?

Educational research : competencies for analysis and applications (2): Data analysis & interpretation

Gay, L. R., Mills, G. E., & Airasian, P. (2006). Educational research : competencies for analysis and applications (8th Ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Chapter 18. Qualitative research: Data analysis and interpretation (p. 467)

Data analysis: an attempt by the researcher to summarize collected data in a dependable and accurate manner (summarizing what's in the data)

Data interpretation: an attempt by the researcher to find meaning in the data and to answer the "So what?" question in terms of the implications of the study's findings (making sense of/ finding meaning in that data)

1. Data analysis during data collection: gathering data, examining data, comparing prior data to newer data, writing up field notes before going back to the research site, and making plans to gather new data. Two questions that guide qualitative work and reflections (Anderson et al., 1994, p. 155):

• is your research question still answerable and worth answering?
• are your data collection techniques catching the kind of data you wanted and filtering out the data that you don't

2. Data analysis after data collection - steps (p. 469)

• Reading/memoing: becoming familiar with the data and identifying potential themes in it
• Describing: examining the data in depth to provide detailed descriptions of the setting, participants, and activity (context)
  
• Classifying: categorizing and coding pieces of data and grouping them into themes
  

3. Data analysis strategies (p. 471)

• Identifying themes
• Coding qualitative data: the process of categorically marking or referencing units of text with codes and labels as a way to indicate patterns and meaning
• Asking key questions: "who is centrally involved?" "What major activities, events, or issues are relevant to the problem?" and so on
• Organizational review: helping the researcher understand the school or other organization as the larger setting. A review should focus on the following features of an organization: vision and mission, goals and objectives, structure of the organization, operation, and problems, issues and concerns
• Concept mapping: visualizes the major influences that have affected th study and to create a visual display that allows for the identification of consistencies and inconsistencies tha may exist between disparate groups
• Analyzing antecedents and consequences: map the antecedents (causes) and consequences (effects) that have emerged throughout the study
• Displaying findings: using matrixes, charts, concept maps, graphs and figures to encapsulate the findings of a study
• Stating what's missing: reflect on the pieces of the puzzle that are still missing at the conclusion of the study and to identify any questions for which answers have not been provided
  

4. Data interpretation techniques (p. 479)

• Extend the analysis
• Seek the advice of "critical" friends
• Contextualize findings in the literature
• Turn to theory
• Know when to say "when"
  

References

Anderson, G. L., Herr, K., & Nihlen, A. S. (1994). Studying your own school: An educator's guide to qualitative practitioner research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Ed research: Competencies for analysis and applications (1)

Gay, L. R., Mills, G. E., & Airasian, P. (2006). Educational research : competencies for analysis and applications (8th Ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Chapter 17. Ethnographic research

1. Definition: the study of the cultural patterns and perspectives of participants in their natural setting (p. 441).

2. Goal: describe, analyze, and interpret the culture of a group, over time, in terms of the group's shared beliefs, behaviors, and language.

3. A construct central to the understanding of ethnography is culture.

Culture: the set of attitudes, values, concepts, beliefs, and practices shared by members of a group.

Three conceptual areas that focus on tangible behaviors (Wolcott, 1999):

• Cultural orientation: where the people being studied are situated in terms of physical space and activities
• Cultural know-how: how a group goes about its daily activities
• Cultural beliefs (why a group does what it does)

4. Ethnographic research process (p. 442)

• Identify the purpose of the research study
• Frame the study as a larger theoretical, policy, or practical problem
• Pose initial ethnographic research questions
• Describe the overall approach and rationale for the study
• Describe the site and sample selection
• Describe the researcher's role (entry to the research site, reciprocity, and ethics)
• Describe data collection methods
• Describe appropriate strategies for the analysis and interpretation of data
• Write the ethnographic account
  

5. Types of ethnographic research (p. 445)

• Critical ethnography: a highly politicized form of ethnography written by a researcher in order to advocate against inequalities and domination of particular groups that exist in society (including schools)
• Realist ethnography: written with an objective style and uses common categories for cultural description, analysis, and interpretation
• Ethnographic case study (less likely to focus on cultural themes): focuses on describing the activities of a specific group and the shared patterns of behavior it develops over time
  

6. Key characteristics of ethnographic research (p. 445)

• carried out in a natural setting
• involves intimate, face-to-face interaction with participants
• presents an accurate refection of participants' perspectives and behaviors
• uses inductive, interactive, and repetitious collection of "unstructured" data and analytic strategies to build local cultural theories
• Data is primarily collected through fieldwork experiences
• typically uses multiple methods for data collection, including conducting interviews and observations, and reviewing documents, artifacts, and visual materials
• frames all human behavior and belief within a sociopolitical and historical context
• uses the concept of culture as a lens through which to interpret results
• places an emphasis on exploring the nature of particular social phenomena, rather than setting out to test hypotheses about them
• investigates a small number of cases, perhaps just one case, in detail
• uses data analysis procedures that involve the explicit interpretation of the meanings and functions of human actions. Interpretations occur within the context or group setting and are presented through the description of themes
• requires that researchers be reflective about their impact on the research site and the cultural group
• offers interpretations of people's actions and behaviors that must be uncovered through an investigation of what people actually do and their reasons for doing it
• offers a representation of a person's life and behavior that is neither the researcher's nor the person's. Instead, it is built upon points of understanding and misunderstanding that occur between researcher and participant (446)
  
• cannot provide an exhaustive, absolute description of anything. Rather, ethnographic descriptions are necessarily partial, bound by what can be handled within a certain time, under specific circumstances, and from a particular perspective
  

7. Ethnographic research techniques

7.1. Triangulation: the use of multiple methods, data collection strategies, and data sources to get a more complete picture of what is being studied and to cross-check information (ensure the trustworthiness/validity of the data)

7.2. Participate observation:

• Purposes: Observe the activities, people, and physical aspects of a situation; Engage in activities that are appropriate to a given situation and that provide useful information
• Active participant observer (p. 447) (e.g., researchers often negotiate roles as teacher's aides, student teachers, or even substitute teachers in order to gain access to schools and classrooms)
• Privileged, active observer (e.g., move in and out as of the role of teacher's aide and observer)
• Passive observer (e.g. the visitor is present only to see what's going on around here)
• Guidelines for participant observation (Wolcott, 1999) (p. 448, 449)
  
  • Gaining entry and maintaining rapport
  • Reciprocity
  • A tolerance for ambiguity
  • Personal determination coupled with faith in oneself
  • Letting go of control
    

7.3. Field notes: written records of the researcher's (participant observer) understandings of the lives, people, and events that are the focus of the research. They should be written up as soon as possible after completion of the observation. In addition to providing literal descriptions, the observer also records personal reactions, generally referred to as reflective field notes (p. 455).

7.4. Observing and recording everything you possibly can (p. 451)

7.5. Observing and looking for nothing in particular (p. 452)

7.6. Looking for "bumps" or paradoxes (p. 453)

7.7 Top 10 guidelines for fieldwork and field notes (Patton, 1990, pp. 272-273)

• be descriptive in taking field notes
• gather a variety of info from different perspectives
• cross-validate and triangulate by gathering different kinds of data (e.g., observations, documents, interviews) and by using multiple methods
• using quotations; represent people in their own terms. Capture their experiences in their own words
• select "key informants" wisely and use them carefully. Draw on the wisdom of their informed perspectives, but keep in mind that their perspectives are limited
• be aware of and sensitive to different stages of fieldwork
  
  • build trust and rapport at the beginning. Remember that the observer is also being observed
  • stay alert and disciplined during the more routine, middle phase of fieldwork
  • focus on pulling together a useful synthesis as fieldwork draws to close
    
• be disciplined and conscientious in taking fieldnotes at all stages of fieldwork
• be as involved as possible in experiencing the situation as fully as possible while maintaining an analytical perspective grounded in the purpose of the fieldwork
• clearly separate description from interpretation and judgment
• include in your fieldnotes and report your own experiences, thoughts and feelings
  

References

Wolcott, H. F. (1999). Ethnography: A way of seeing. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press.

Patton, M. Q. (1990). Qualitative evaluation and research methods (2nd ed.). Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.

ICTs: Considerations of current practice (2) Reinventing Role

Dede, C. (2007). Reinventing the role of information and communications technologies in education. In L. Smolin, K. Lawless, & N. Burbules (Eds.), Information and communication technologies: Considerations of current practice for teachers and teacher educators (pp. 11-38). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

ICTs are reshaping three aspects of education simultaneously:

• The knowledge and skills society wants from the graduates of education are shifting as a result of the evolution of a global, knowledge-based economy and a "flat" world (Friedman, 2005)
• Methods of research, teaching, and learning are expanding, as new interactive media support innovative forms of pedagogy (Dede, in press-a)
• The characteristics of students are changing, as their usage of technology outside of academic settings shapes their learning styles, strengths, and preferences (Dede, 2005)

Three fundamental observations about the impact of ICT on society:

• The definition of what computers and related technologies can accomplish has repeatedly expanded - individual & collective expression, experience, and interpretation (e.g., productivity enhancers, email communication, expanding access to info through web browsers & streaming video)
  
• Cognition is now distributed across human minds, tools/media, groups of people, and space/time - distributed cognition & action (e.g., asynchronous discussion online, delocalizing, sociability) (Dede, in press-b; Engestrom & Middleton, 1996; Hutchins, 1995; Salomon, 1993)
• The types of work done by people, as opposed to the kinds of labor done by machines, are continually shifting - growing proportions of the labor force are engaged in jobs that emphasize expert thinking or complex communication - tasks that computers cannot do (The fundamental change involves deemphasizing fluency in simple procedures as an end-goal of preparation for work and life, instead using these routine skills as a substrate for mastering complex mental performances, p. 13) - erosion of routine tasks in favor of expert decision making and complex communication skills
  
  • 21st-century skills: collective problem resolution via mediated interaction (including problem finding and solving)

Shortfalls in how current ICT for learning meet 21st-century educational challenges

• Three competing schools of thought on how people learn
  
  • Behaviorism: because learning is based on experience, pedagogy centers on manipulating environmental factors to create instructional events inculcating content and procedures in ways that alter students' behaviors
    
    • Purpose: acquire skills of discrimination (recall facts), generalization (define & illustrate concepts), and chaining (automatically perform a specified procedure)
    • Emphais: factual knowledge, recipe-like procedures
      
    • Suitable ICTs: computer-assisted instruction (CAI), drill-and-skill learning management system (LMS)
    • Limitation: limited both in what they can teach and in the types of engagement
      
  • Cognitivism: because learning involves both experience and thinking, instruction centers on helping learners develop interrelated, symbolic mental constructs that form the basis of knowledge and skills
    
    • Purpose: providing a deep foundation of factual knowledge and procedural skills; linking facts, skills, and idea via conceptual frameworks - organizing domain knowledge as experts in that field do, in ways that facilitate retrieval and application; and helping students develop skills that involve improving their own thinking processes, such as setting their own learning goals and monitoring progress in reaching these
    • Suitable ICTs: intelligent tutoring systems (ITS)
    • Limitation: well-defined content and skills, material with a few correct ways of accomplishing tasks (very limited range of knowledge and skills they can teach)
      
  • Constructivism: because learning involves constructing one's own knowledge in a context richly shaped by interactions with others, instruction centers on helping learners to actively invent individual meaning from experiences.
    
    • Purpose: instruction as a process of supporting knowledge construction rather than communicating knowledge; teacher's role as guide, rather than an expert transferring knowledge to novices' "blank slates"; learning activities that are authentic and that center on learners' puzzlement as their faculty or incomplete knowledge and skills fail to predict what they are experiencing; encouragement for students to reflect on experiences, seek alternative viewpoints, and test the viability of ideas
    • Suitable ICTs: wide range
    • Limitation: difficult to implement in conventional school settings; not so efficient for material that behaviorism and cognitivism can teach (e.g., arithmetic operations)
    • Social constructivism: students actively constructing their knowledge with instructional support, as opposed to being passive recipients assimilating information communicated by the teacher (Jonassen, 1996). Students construct knowledge as a result of their interactions with their community (e.g., the scientific research community)
  • Shortfalls
    
    • Conventional approaches (behaviorist & cognitivist) emphasizes manipulating predigested info to build fluency in routine problem solving
    • Problem-solving skills are presented in an abstract form that makes transfer to other disciplines and real-world situations difficult
    • The ultimate goal of all three is often presented as learning a specific problem-solving routine to match every work situation, rather than developing expert decision making and metacognitive strategies that how to proceed when no standard approach seems applicable
    • Little time is spent on building capabilities in group interpretation, negotiation of shard meaning, and co-construction of problem solutions, particularly in behaviorist and cognitivist approaches
    • ICTs are largely used to automate traditional methods of teaching and learning, rather than to model complexity and express insights to others
      
    • The effects from technology usage are measured, but the effect with technologies essential to effective practice of a skill are not
      
• Situated learning
  
  • Definition: embedded within and inseparable from participating in a system of activity deeply determined by a particular physical and cultural setting
  • Unit of analysis: the relationship between the individual & the setting (studies of apprenticeship in 'communities of practice')
  • Requirement: authentic contexts, activities, and assessment coupled with guidance from expert modeling, situated mentoring, and legitimate peripheral participation (Lave & Wenger, 1991) (e.g., GA experience allows graduate students to gradually move from novice researchers to more advanced roles, with their skills and the expectations for them evolving)
  • Power: learning to solve problems as part of a community in the authentic context
    

A vision of how emerging ICT can aid in meeting 21st-century educational challenges

• Three complementary tech interfaces are currently shaping how people learn (K-12)
  
  • The "world-to-the-desktop" interface that provides access to distributed knowledge across space and time through networked media
  • MUVE that offers students an engaging "Alice in Wonderland" experience in which their digital emissaries in a graphical virtual context actively engage in experiences with the avatars of other participants and with computerized agents (e.g., Second Life) - it empowers the creation of contexts inaccessible in the real world
    
  • Augmented reality (AR) interfaces that enable "ubiquitous computing" models - it enables the infusion of virtual contexts within physical locations
    

(Reflection: if education can't precisely predict or control the future of technology, it should at least prepare people to be aware of the uncertainties that technologies may bring to them...)

(Reflection: some profs are very reluctant to let their students reference online resources. I'm going to disagree on that issue. Based on my experiences, I enjoyed so much finding information posted online which are so convenient, incisive, and valuable. Some articles are written by no names but they spark a lot of innovative ideas and provide multiple links that lead to further thinking. They make a lot of sense...)

Psychological effects in teaching

1. Strength/durability of memory

• 7+/-2 effect (William Hamilton, M. H. Jacobs, George A. Miller-magic number 7)
• Short-term memory is limited
• Grouping is an effective way

2. Primacy effect & recency effect

• Primacy is a cognitive bias that results from disproportionate salience of initial stimuli or observations. If, for example, a subject reads a sufficiently long list of words, he or she is more likely to remember words read toward the beginning than words read in the middle. (e.g., well begun is half done; first impression)
  
• The recency effect is a cognitive bias that results from disproportionate salience of recent stimuli or observations. People tend to recall items that were at the end on a list rather than items that were in the middle on a list. For example, if a driver sees an equal total number of red cars as blue cars during a long journey, but there happens to be a glut of red cars at the end of the journey, he or she is likely to conclude that there were more red cars than blue cars throughout the drive. (e.g., 压轴戏；理无可恕，情有可原）
  

3. Forgetting Curve (Hermann Ebbinghaus) － 遗忘的发展规律是先快后慢 （review what you learned is important)

4. 超限效应 － 留点空白，不能无限度表扬或批评，information overload

5. 高原现象： 越往后进步越慢； 长跑中的“极点“。

6. 思维定势: 换种思维方式

7. 归因偏差 Attribution deficiency? -需换位思考

8. 沉锚效应 - 思维被第一信息左右

9. 连锁塑造－ 通过小步骤反馈来达到学习目标：e.g., operant conditioning chamer (Skinner)

10. 詹森效应－心里素质影响临场发挥

11. 普雷马克原理 － 要想吃肉，先吃青菜 （用高频活动奖励低频活动）

12. 情景相似性 － 去年今日此门中，人面桃花相映红 (encoding specificity)。触景生情，睹物思人。

13. 头脑风暴效应－ 引发兴趣，发散思维（不许评价，异想天开，重数量而非质量，见解无专利）

14. 大脑可塑性 － 玉不琢不成器，人不学不知义

15. 鸡尾酒会效应 － 听到你要听的。

16. 情绪判断优先 － 情令智昏

17. 厌恶试验 － little Albert's experiment (John B. Watson) （behaviorism: US, UR, CS, CR)

18. 德西效应 － 外加报酬抵消内感报酬。过度奖励或弄巧成拙。应该奖励内部动机为主。

Dissertation ideas

Title

The complexities of cross-cultural interface in a "distance": Interpreting an international distance learning program in a Midwest university

Purpose of the study

To provide a description of interpretations and understanding of the complex nature of cross-cultural distance learning in a Midwest university.

Research questions

Major question
How might we model the development and experience of a cross-cultural university curriculum in distance technology?

Sub-questions
(1) What are the relationships between participants, technologies, and contexts in the development of an international distance learning program? (e.g., teacher-teacher, teacher-student, student-student, administration-teacher, teacher-technology, student-technology, technology-culture interactions)
(2) How does a teacher integrate distance technology into his/her cross-culture studies curriculum?
(3) How do the students understand and interpret their cross-cultural encounters through the international distance learning program?

Literature Review
Key words:
International/cross-cultural education -> academic growth/educated person/
Intercultural competency/Digital literacies/Globalization
Professional development/teacher readiness/motivation
Novice-expert experience (teacher-teacher interaction)
Digital natives-immigrants experience (digital disconnect) (teacher-student interaction)
Instructional design (modules)
Models/frameworks of relationships, factors, constructs, technique

Research design/Methodology

To meet the purpose this study will examine the development and implementation of a interactive videoconference-based international distance learning program developed by a Midwest American University and foreign Universities. (Use pseudonyms for proposal?)

One possibility is IDEN (pseudonym), a culture studies program currently organized through the Global Media Network, Center for International Programs, and the Honors College. Selected students from the Honors College get the opportunity to learn about cultures of three different countries by participating in a course taught through digital video conferencing technology.

The normal procedure of a IDEN class is described as the following: "before the classes begin, each country is paired up with one another. After the first five weeks, the partners are switched, until each class has met with every country. Each course is customized to cover the topics which the students are most interested in. The students are assigned a partner and are required to correspond with one another by email and MSN Chat. There is a group conference during the first ten minutes of class. Afterwards, half of the class stays for another personalized video conference session, while the other half goes to a computer lab to have one on one conversations with their international partners through chat. Throughout the semester, collaborative papers are written by each student and their partner."

Currently the program is under the change of leadership. The next course won't be offered until Spring 2009. The new leader of this program has never taught a IDEN course before. Getting to know how He is going to make things work will be part of my research interest.

Ethnography will be considered as the primary research method for this study. Sources of data will consist of the written transcripts of the interviews, online exchanges, pre- and post-course surveys, journals, participant observations, and archived documents.

Data Analysis

Upon the completion of data collection, I will examine and reexamine the data in search of themes and integration in the data to arrive at a number of themes. Triangulation among asking questions, observing, interviewing, peer review, and analyzing documents and transcripts will help to integrate the analysis.

Timeline

* June 2008 Comprehensive exam
* July 2008 Proposal defense
* August 2008 IRB
* Fall 2008 Start data collection and analysis. Building rapport and network with research participants (instructor, technology staff, administration, and students); literature review; going through previous archives and documents of the IDEN program; interview; fieldnotes
* Spring 2009 Continue data collection and analysis: Participant observation in the IDEN class;
* May 2009 Data analysis, interpretation and dissertation writing
* June 2009 Finalizing
* July 2009 Defense

ICTs: Considerations of current practice (1)

Smolin, L., & Lawless, K. (2007). Technologies in schools: Stimulating a dialogue. In L. Smolin, K. Lawless, & N. Burbules (Eds.). (2007). Information and communication technologies: Considerations of current practice for teachers and teacher educators (pp. 1-10). Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

The volume will examine the gap between the promise of technology and its current reality in schools. It is written for classroom teachers and teacher educators, because it is through these two groups in particular that this gap can be closed. Authors identify the issues, the problematics, and the considerations that teachers and teacher educators should consider as they plan and implement uses of ICT with their students in mind, and address the integration of technology in school curriculums, as well as afterschool programs, instructional technology, professional development, information literacy, and the philosophical and pedogogical concerns associated with technology.

Tech in schools: Stimulating a dialogue (p. 1)

While new ICTs have afforded new opportunities to improve efficiency, exponentially increase access to info, and expand the notion of global citizenship, they have also caused many researchers and educators to rethink what it means to be literate in this post-typographic world (Leu & Kinzer, 2000).

Early pressure for integrating tech in schools came from contexts external to the school-most notably from the business sector (Scott, Cole, & Engel, 1992)...But because business and school contexts are quite distinct, technology became added to the school curriculum rather than integrated within it.

Although tech was being used within classrooms, it was still employed as a separate productivity tool, often replicating older forms of info transfer...However, tech can be more than a tool. It can also be a medium for reshaping the way in which we access info, communicate with one another, and learn in school.

Tech-based reform is esp. challenging because it is a multifaceted endeavor:

• Multiple professional communities: different professionals representing different discourse communities (Computer scientists, researchers, school administrators, teachers)
• Multiple theoretical perspectives
  a. Sociocultural: learning as a social practice through which the learner plays a central role (Vygotsky, 1978; Wells, 1999; Wenger, 1999)
  b. Curriculum studies: what is important for students to understand and be able to do (Bruner, 2004; Wraga, 2002) as well as the role tech should play in 21st-century learning
  c. Teacher education: importance of preparing teachers to implement technology (Pellegrino, Goldman, Berthenthal, & Lawless, in this volume, p. 52)
• Multiple strategies
  Technology is often poorly integrated with other classroom activities (Gewertz, 2007). Rather than using technology to transform classroom pedagogies and engae students in a knowledge-based world, it if often used to merely replicate the traditional curriculum (Cuban et al., 2001) - A gap between the promise of ICT and its current reality in classrooms. We are neither harnessing the power of technology nor appropriately leveraging it to meet the needs of 21st-century students.
  Dialog across multiple groups, perspectives, and domains is key to successful reform efforts in the future.

4 themes toward using ICT for transformative purposes

• Tech in and out of school: students use tech more outside school than in (Gewertz, 2007 & Mark Prensky, in Gewertz)
• Policy making: influence on how tech is used in schools (Haertel, Means, & Penuel, in this volume)
• Diversity (digital divide): The varied tech experiences of teachers and students (Jones' chapter); Students' cultural diversity
• Teacher development
  

References

• Bruner, J. (2004). Toward a theory of instruction. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press.
• Coiro, J. Knobel, M., Lankshear, C., & Leu, D. J. (in press). Handbook of research on new literacies. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
• Cuban, L., Kirkpatrick, H., & Peck, C. (2001). High access and low use of technologies in high school classrooms: Explaining an apparent paradox. American Educational Research Journal, 38 (4), 813-834.
• Gewertz, C. (2007, March 29). Outside interests: Young people typically plug in to new technology far more often on their own time than in school. Education Week, Technology Counts 2007. Retrieved October 6, 2007, from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/03/29/30tcstudent.h26.html
• Leu, D. J., Jr., & Kinzer, C. K. (2000). The convergence of literacy instruction with networked technologies for information and communication. Reading Research Quarterly, 35 (1), 132-141.
• Scott, T., Cole, M., & Engel, M. (1992). Computers and education: A cultural constructivist perspective. Review of Research in Education, 10, 191-251.
• Vygotsgy, L. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
• Wells, G. (1999). Dialogic inquiry: Toward a sociocultural practice and theory of education. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Wenger, E. (1999). Communities of practice: Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Wraga, W. (2002). Recovering curriculum practice: Continuing the conversations. Educational Researcher, 31 (6), 17-19.