Technology Week 4 reflections

The Internet provides limitless opportunities for our students to learn, to solve problems to answer questions, to make connections. But the sheer size and scope of the information available necessitates our guidance and direction. If we send our students out blindly into the information wilderness, it is likely they will return frustrated and overwhelmed. As teachers, we want to encourage initiative but also provide a structure. To do this effectively, we have to pay attention to how our students go about their work. Do they have effective strategies in hand or are they unsure of where to begin? Do they get diverted and off-task easily? Do they work better in groups or individually? Do they know how to evaluate and analyze information after they find it? It can vary greatly from student to student. Like most good teaching, we need to provide some effective strategies, practice together with our students, gradually scaffolding our instruction to increase their independent thinking.

There are several important ways teachers can help students make meaning of primary source material. Instead of relying solely on one search engine or Google tool, we must teach our students to critically think about the source they are researching to discover not-so-obvious ideas and deeper understanding. We need to help them look at a problem or topic from more than one angle to establish perspective. We can point out to our students the bias and subtleties of database searches (November, 2010, p.73) and assist them in developing critical thinking and questioning skills. We can show them how to examine alternative and additional sources to shed light on a primary source. And lastly, we can help students find authentic audiences in which to review and evaluate their research. (November, p.77).

Teachers can use podcasts and multimedia tools to help connect students and schools to one and another and exchange ideas, experiences and learning. For example, using podcast recordings, classes can produce school radio shows that highlight particular activities, achievements, or interests. Using free, easy programs such as Audacity or Skype, (Richardson, 2010, p.119) teachers can help students create audio archives of virtually anything that students want to share. Teachers can visit the Education Podcast Network to access thousands of podcasts. Through TeacherTube, teachers and students are collaborating on thousands of projects that are shared around the world. Multimedia publishing is a great motivator for students (Richardson, p. 129) and a great opportunity for students and teachers to work together to publish their ideas to a vast online audience.