I liked reading the section about Artificial Intelligence. Reading just the section title I was hoping I would be reading about technology similar to the ones in the movie Ai, with a life like robot boy and a brown walking talking teddy bear. It only took a couple of sentences for me to realize I was not thinking along the correct lines. I did find these possibilities to be encouraging and feasible.
One of the programs sorts out how a student thinks and learns. It bases it questions around how the previous question was answered. The program stores all this information and analyzes it. Then a profile is created laying out what the student knows, what scaffolding needs to take place, and the best way for the student to learn material. I would love to have a profile spelled out about every one of my students. I could then spend more time teaching the most beneficial information and waste less time trying to figure out what the students already know. Our school has a very basic program similar to this called Study Island. It is designed for third grade and up so I have not had much experience with it. From what I understand each student has his or her own user name and password. After logging in the student can choose from various educational activities and games. The computer keeps track of how well the students do so the next time the student logs in the games and activities have been adjusted to appropriately challenge the student. I believe the teacher can access each students profile to keep track of the progress. Although the program is not suitable for first graders, I have heard many positive comments from the teachers’ whose students are using it.
As teachers we do get a profile on each student using their scores from the standardize test we take at the beginning of the year. It is present in a three-ring three-inch binder. We have to interpret what the score means. What the student already know, what we need to teach them to improve the score, and then we have to figure out on our own to teach all of it in addition to our year’s academic objectives. My understanding is that most teacher but the binder on the shelf and never touch it again. The whole process is tedious, boring, and unlikely to change what and how we teach. If a computer program printed out in plain English exactly how the student learns and what the student needs to learn, I think teachers would be more receptive to making the effort to go the extra mile. Why not when all the hard work is already don for them? But once you spend four weeks sorting through piles of paper I know all my extra energy is spent.
My favorite activity was our very first week in creating our blogs. I found this to be my favorite because it allowed us to share every other activity we complete throughout the semester. I believe this tool to be very versatile and appropriate for almost all ages, grade level, and abilities. It is a wonderful first basic step into a technology driven and advancing world.
Monday, August 4, 2008
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4 comments:
Hi Lindsay,
I also liked the Artificial Intelligence part of the chapter. I was amazed about the type of technology that is in the works already! It seems like exciting times are coming in the area of Instructional Design.
On the other hand, I am sorry because your student information binder is so difficult to use. Hopefully your school will get cut up with the newer technology described in this chapter.
Thank you,
Mary Fuelling
I may be a little off track, but you reflection made me think about teaching, technology, and learning styles. They are frequently studied and looked as separate activities.
As a teacher in a classroom with 30 students, trying to be an instructional designer, media creator, project manager just isn't likely to happen. It would be very nice to have an integrated software solution that provided an assessment of student performance, learning styles,suggested teaching activities.
Education faces a number of challenges in the future, one of them being funding. When I am ill, I start the treatment process with my family physician, who sends me to a specialist, who may order specialized test, and may even refer me to one more specialist for treatment. It is a team approach to medicine with a lot of support staff and technology.
It is hard to envision the same process in education due to cost, but what is the cost of not maximizing student performance?
The blog has been one of my favorite tasks. I have really enjoyed working with it.
One great tool that needs to happen for you is to have a computer program sort the information in the binder on each student. It would be very helpful if everyone was listed on one chart. You could easily see how many students needed to work on similar things. That would save a lot of time and frustration.
I too was amazed at the types of technology that is being explored and used.
When I taught first grade one of the programs that our school used was Accelerated Reader. The students had to log in and answer questions after they read certain books and it kept track of their scores. Unfortunately this was only one subject area, because it would be nice to get a bigger picture of our students' progress and learning styles. I agree that it is very difficult to digest all the paper work and assessment results and figure out what to do with it all. Hopefully someday we will see big changes and improvements for the better!
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