I was trolling around ITunes U. the other day, and found Maine’s “As We May Teach” podcasts, which were created as part of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative. These podcasts describe ways to use educational technologies and include hands-on examples. (They can be found at: As We May Teach: Educational Technology, From Theory Into Practice ). I found them short, succinct and handy. Having come across this prior, it stole the thunder from the chapter on MP3 players. In my case, Brooks-Young is preaching to the converted when she advocates making content like this available to students, and having them create podcasts themselves. I particularly like the digital literacy skills involved in making script writing accurate & engaging.
The chapter on Netbooks didn’t rock my world either, though I was intrigued by the laptops’ altruistic origins – the One Laptop per Child initiative. I could relate when Brooks-Young points out how some IT staffs rope off student access to the network like they were armed bandits at Fort Knox. At our school, staff is subjected to the same high security/lower productivity mind-set, adding another barrier for those already intimidated or frustrated as they try to make sincere attempts to integrate technology in the classroom.
A most salient point Brooks-Young makes is that automation is not the key to effective use of technology. The novelty of it wears thin in no time. Educators need to come up with new, imaginative ways of approaching instruction to inspire students to develop their innate skills and talents, and cultivate new ones. Again, not a new idea, but one it’s good to be reminded of occasionally.
Denise,
ReplyDeleteWhat program/system does your school use to inventory and checkout library books? I ask because, while reading your review I was reminded of an experiment our librarian is toying with. She uses Follett Destiny as her library card catalog, and while we were poking around the system we found an option to upload an MP3 file and attach it to any "card" in the system. I thought, "Wouldn't it be cool if, after a student read a book from our library, they made a quick podcast as a book review. The student would then submit the podcast to the librarian who could then upload it and attach it to the 'card' entry for future students to listen to."
As I think more about it, even if your card catalog system doesn't have this feature that doesn't mean students couldn't script out and record book reviews for you. You could then take the MP3's and upload them to a website like Google Sites, Weebly, or one of the other options Holly mentioned in class. There is a lot of potential here for digital literacy skills, and I find that when you ask students to publish their work they tend to take more interest in its accuracy and quality.
Just a thought…
As usual Nick, you are spot-on. This is a great idea. I'm looking into changing my library software - it's Spectrum, which Follet owns - and merging with our public library. I'm meeting w/ them on Weds. But you are right - kids could do podcasts on books either way. Thanks for sharing your inspiration!
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thoughts concerning networks being locked down and the apparent distrust school districts may have for the staff and students. I think it is unncessary and the educational enviroment should be treated as other professional enviroments. Staff as well as students need to the ability to freely research and have quality equipment to learn. Coming from the technology side of the equation, I do understand why many website are locked down. Often these sites have viruses attached and if district do not have adequate virus protection and adequate resources to maintain a network, network environments may become unavailable for long periods of time casuing even more frustration.
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