In reading Chapter Five this week, there were many options
that gave me food for thought and reflection, so I reviewed and chose the
following three concepts.
The first is ‘Becoming Fluent with
Technology’, the initial thing that came to mind before reading this portion
was that I think of this in terms of language. But when I reviewed Webster’s dictionary
online the secondary description gave more insight for a technological use that
being ‘done in a smooth and easy way’, which is certainly what I hope to
achieve, one day! Our book spoke about how it’s not really the ‘knowledge’ that
we have trouble finding, but just how to understand, analyze and use it in
effective and day to day life applications. Just this morning, my husband asked
me when we will go back to ‘standard time’, because he was noticing that the
sun is rising later and later etc. So I clicked into the search engine on my
phone and asked a question. My phone responded with a general description of
when in March and then in November time is adjusted. This was because I asked a
general question, not specific dates for 2016.
So for me in a sense this was a small ‘Aha’ moment that related right
back to this concept in our book. Sure it gave me ‘correct’ information, but in
order to find specific dates etc., I need to define that…part of becoming
‘smooth and easy’. As for how that would affect my teaching, I would say that
as I model fluency, my students can learn more effectively too.
The second concept that made me really think was the section
on ‘Electronic Note-Taking’ which immediately brought some thoughts to my mind
and in a sense gave me some pause. When I returned to school in the spring
semester, I took four classes, and as such I went out and purchased four paper
notebooks, for as the name implies ‘note-taking’. I was a bit surprised that
when I arrived in my classes that many of my fellow classmates came in carrying
Laptops, etc. and were ‘typing’ notes in as the professors were lecturing and
my thought was ‘How can they type and listen at the same time?’. Then it
occurred to me that perhaps this was like the stenographer of old (do they
still have people who do that job?!?!) but I don’t think the stenographers were
trying to ‘learn and absorb information’, just taking notes for later transcription.
So how do you absorb enough to learn content?
And that piggybacks on my observation experience for my Intro to
Education class, the teacher I was observing was teaching eighth grade US
History. At the beginning of class he provided the students with already prepared Cornell
Notes, because he said the students were either a) reading below grade
level or b) never taught to take effective notes. I know our text pointed out
and described several computer technologies and tools for Electronic Note-taking,
but it just made me wonder if before employing these electronic systems it
might be better to actually teach students
skills (like Cornell or others) for better note-taking. That aside, the other side
of the electronic ‘argument’, if you will, is that if internet and/or
electricity is cut off, how do I study from notes that are ‘locked in
cyberspace’? Just a rhetoric question from an old school girl!
The third concept from this chapter that led to some
additional pondering on my part is the idea of ‘Cognitive Load’, which our book
defines as ‘the way information presented online can either support or restrict
understanding and learning by readers and viewers.’ (pg. 116) This is something
that as I have used websites, both as a student and just for my personal use, I
sometimes find difficult to navigate. I am even more aware of this as I search
through websites for this week’s assignment, I feel like I’m living in the
children’s story of Goldilocks
and the Three Bears…one website is ‘too big’, one website is ‘too little’,
finding the ‘just right’ one can be a struggle! As a future teacher I’m hoping
that knowledge gained in classes like this one will give me skills and guidance
so that create a blended classroom (physical and electronic) to serve the
educational needs of all my students.
This chapter was full of juicy tidbits and insights, and if
I can improve on my fluency in technology, understanding of electronic
note-taking and find useful tools for navigating to the best online educational
support, my future students could benefit greatly.
References
AVID Site Team (Ed.). (2015). Cornell Notes. Retrieved
September 22, 2016, from
http://schools.hsd.k12.or.us/liberty/Academics/AVID/CornellNotes/tabid/6217/Default.aspx
Fluent. (n.d.). Retrieved September 22, 2016, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fluenthttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fluent
Goldilocks and
the Three Bears. (2016, September 18). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia.
Retrieved 15:12, September 23, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goldilocks_and_the_Three_Bears&oldid=740030343
Maloy, Robert,
Verock-O’Loughlin,Ruth-Ellen, Edwards, Sharon A., and Woolf, Beverly Park
(2013). Transforming Learning with New Technologies. 2nd Edition.
Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
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