November 13, 2011

Of Digital "Natives" and "Immigrants"

DIFFERENT THAN BEFORE? SAME AS IT'S ALWAYS BEEN?

TECHNOLOGY AND THE INTER-GENERATIONAL EXPERIENCE

This week we opened our class by looking at Marc Prensky's metaphor of "digital natives" and "digital immigrants." Prensky argues that young people today are fundamentally different than they were ten, twenty, fifty, of five hundred years ago. But is this true?

Take some time to reflect on the students in your classroom currently. To what extent have digital technologies influenced them to the point that they are different than when you were in school? To what extent are your students the same as when you were their age? Do you agree with Prensky? Disagree? How? Why?

Please explain yourself fluently and insightfully in approximately 700, and pepper your comments with some quotes taken from the articles handed out in class.

This blogsite posting will come due at the beginning of our next class meeting on November 21, 2011.

THEN VS. NOW: COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Introducing the Awesome EDUC 515

AN OPPORTUNITY TO START ANEW THE LEARNING PROCESS

Ready for a productive, busy nine weeks of academic and professional growth.

GOALS:

Here we are at the beginning of a new semester, and as always it is a fresh start and a new opportunity to learn and grow both as a professional and human being.

So let's address a few basic questions: What are some of your personal or professional goals in EDUC 515 this semester. What would you like to be able to accomplish at the end of this class that you could not do at the beginning? What technologies might you be able to utilize to "teach digitally"? As technology continues to change profoundly how we live and work, what might be the implications for education? Or to be more specific, the implications for teachers? Students? What do you think?

Take a few minutes here as we begin to gather your thoughts and to brainstorm on a plan for progress in this class. Your final posted blogsite entry should be at least three or four paragraphs.

THE FEW, THE PROUD: EDUC 515

Morgan gives two "thumbs up" during first class meeting!!

July 05, 2011

Face-to-Face? Online? Blended?

AN ONLINE CLASS

We met online last week for some forty minutes. What did you think? Compared to our first two classes, was it necessary last week to come sit in class in a brick and mortal building listening to the professor? Or was it just as easy to perform your assignments at home?

THE FUTURE IS...

The trends in education seems to be one of increasingly "online" and "blended" classes, and some analysts claim that some fifty percent of all classes will be online ones by the next decade. Is this, in your opinion, a positive or a negative trend? Or both!?! Please read these essays and explore the links below:

and then think about your own experience with online classes. Was it a good educational experience? Bad? Both maybe? Why? EXPLAIN! Please write up in some 600 words your experiences and opinions so far with online learning. In addition to as a student, please reflect on how you would like/dislike to teach an online class?

Please write up your responses to the relatively new phenomenon of online learning by our next class session on July 8th, 2011.

GOOD? BAD? BOTH?

June 21, 2011

Of "Digital Immigrants" and "Digital Natives": Change Versus Continuity

DIFFERENT THAN BEFORE? SAME AS IT'S ALWAYS BEEN?

TECHNOLOGY AND THE INTER-GENERATIONAL EXPERIENCE

This week we opened our class by looking at Marc Prensky's metaphor of "digital natives" and "digital immigrants." Prensky argues that young people today are fundamentally different than they were ten, twenty, fifty, of five hundred years ago. But is this true?

Take some time to reflect on the students in your classroom currently. To what extent have digital technologies influenced them to the point that they are different than when you were in school? To what extent are your students the same as when you were their age? Do you agree with Prensky? Disagree? How? Why?

Please explain yourself fluently and insightfully in approximately 700, and pepper your comments with some quotes taken from the articles handed out in class.

This blogsite posting will come due at the beginning of our next class meeting on June 28, 2011.

THEN VS. NOW: COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Summer 2011: Evolving Trends, Evolving Students, Evolving Teachers

AN OPPORTUNITY TO START ANEW THE LEARNING PROCESS

Ready for a productive, busy nine weeks of academic and professional growth.

GOALS:

Here we are at the beginning of a new semester, and as always it is a fresh start and a new opportunity to learn and grow both as a professional and human being.

So let's address a few basic questions: What are some of your personal or professional goals in EDUC 515 this semester. What would you like to be able to accomplish at the end of this class that you could not do at the beginning? What technologies might you be able to utilize to "teach digitally"? As technology continues to change profoundly how we live and work, what might be the implications for education? Or to be more specific, the implications for teachers? Students? What do you think?

Take a few minutes here as we begin to gather your thoughts and to brainstorm on a plan for progress in this class. Your final posted blogsite entry should be at least three or four paragraphs.

THE FEW, THE PROUD: EDUC 515

Ready to leap tall buildings!

June 20, 2011

The 526 "Capstone" Experience

ON THE CUSP OF A GRADUATE DEGREE:

Summer 2010

Here at the end of your graduate studies you find yourself in between: you are beginning to transition from being a graduate student obtaining your professional training to serving as a working professional in the public school system. It is a moment for reflection on where you come from, where you find yourself currently, and the plan you have for the next 3-5 years. As already discussed in class, EDUC 526 deals with no new material but provides plenty of time for reflection on what has been already learned in the APU EdTech Program. It is time to reflect on what you have learned, and on what will be your next step. What do you think?

So take a few moments in this blogsite posting at the beginning of EDUC 526 to reflect in general terms about your life journey at this time, what you hope to get out of this class, and what are some goals you might have for yourself in the near-, middle-, and long-term. These next nine weeks shall go quickly, so before we get too into the minutiae of your "capstone experience" take a moment please to examine the context of this class in the larger picture.

ON THE CUSP OF A GRADUATE DEGREE:

May 08, 2011

Online? Face-to-Face? Or Blended?

AN ONLINE CLASS

We met online last week for some forty minutes. What did you think? Compared to our first two classes, was it necessary last week to come sit in class in a brick and mortal building listening to the professor? Or was it just as easy to perform your assignments at home?

THE FUTURE IS...

The trends in education seems to be one of increasingly "online" and "blended" classes, and some analysts claim that some fifty percent of all classes will be online ones by the next decade. Is this, in your opinion, a positive or a negative trend? Or both!?! Please read these essays and explore the links below:

and then think about your own experience with online classes. Was it a good educational experience? Bad? Both maybe? Why? EXPLAIN! Please write up in some 600 words your experiences and opinions so far with online learning. In addition to as a student, please reflect on how you would like/dislike to teach an online class?

Please write up your responses to the relatively new phenomenon of online learning by our next class session on May 16, 2011.

GOOD? BAD? BOTH?

April 18, 2011

The Digital "Immigrant" Compared with the Digital "Native"

DIFFERENT THAN BEFORE? SAME AS IT'S ALWAYS BEEN?

TECHNOLOGY AND THE INTER-GENERATIONAL EXPERIENCE

This week we opened our class by looking at Marc Prensky's metaphor of "digital natives" and "digital immigrants." Prensky argues that young people today are fundamentally different than they were ten, twenty, fifty, of five hundred years ago. But is this true?

Take some time to reflect on the students in your classroom currently. To what extent have digital technologies influenced them to the point that they are different than when you were in school? To what extent are your students the same as when you were their age? Do you agree with Prensky? Disagree? How? Why?

Please explain yourself fluently and insightfully in approximately 700, and pepper your comments with some quotes taken from the articles handed out in class.

This blogsite posting will come due at the beginning of our next class meeting on April 26th, 2010.

THEN VS. NOW: COMPARE AND CONTRAST

April and May of Spring II: Evolving Trends in Educational Technology

AN OPPORTUNITY TO START ANEW THE LEARNING PROCESS

Ready for a productive, busy nine weeks of academic and professional growth.

GOALS:

Here we are at the beginning of a new semester, and as always it is a fresh start and a new opportunity to learn and grow both as a professional and human being.

So let's address a few basic questions: What are some of your personal or professional goals in EDUC 515 this semester. What would you like to be able to accomplish at the end of this class that you could not do at the beginning? What technologies might you be able to utilize to "teach digitally"? As technology continues to change profoundly how we live and work, what might be the implications for education? Or to be more specific, the implications for teachers? Students? What do you think?

Take a few minutes here as we begin to gather your thoughts and to brainstorm on a plan for progress in this class. Your final posted blogsite entry should be at least three or four paragraphs.

THE FEW, THE PROUD: EDUC 515

Morgan gives two "thumbs up" during first class meeting!!