Annotated Bibliography #6

Cramer, S. R. (2007). Update your classroom with learning objects and twenty-first-century skills. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 80(3), 126-132.

Summary & Reflection

This article introduces the topic of learning objects, a type of technology, and how to incorporate them and twenty-first-century skills into the classroom. I choose this article because it gave simple and practical ways of using technology and twenty-first-century skills in the classroom without being a techno-wiz. The article is not research based, but is research supported.

As described in the article, "learning objects are instructional materials found on the Internet that can be used to illustrate, support, supplement, or assess student learning" (Cramer, 2007, p. 126). Before reading this article I had never heard of the idea of learning objects. I find it a bit interesting that they are called learning objects, as I do not feel that name clearly defines what they are. According to the author, learning objects are "small in size" and "can take on a variety of different shapes, formats, and purposes" (Cramer, 2007, p. 126). A picture online, short video, reference article, data, digitized diary entries (such as possibly a blog), simulations, case studies, virtual field trips, tutorials, and charts are all examples of learning objects given by the author. It is easy to see how these items could be used to illustrate a concept, supplement a lesson, or to support a student by given additional information.

Bringing learning objects into the classroom will excite students, as they seem to be increasingly bored with the traditional methods of teaching. One great thing about learning objects is that they "can be used for whole-class instruction, for small-group learning stations, or by individuals at home or in school" (Cramer, 2007, p. 127). The author points out that these resources are available for various reading levels, and therefore, allow the teacher to find what will be most useful and appropriate for the students which will allow for differentiation.

The author reports studies supporting the benefits of learning from technology and learning with technology. I am sure there are studies that do not support technology, but nothing was said about them. The author reassures teachers that "integrating technology, learning objects, or twenty-first-century skills into your classroom is not an all-or-nothing endeavor" and instead can take place over time (Cramer, 2007, p. 131). I like that the author even points out that glitches with the technology will occur and they will provide the teacher an opportunity to demonstrate problem solving skills. She also lets the teacher know that pursuing this does not have to be done alone. The teacher can employ the help of the library or media specialist, or even students or parents, because even family involvement can be important to the curriculum.

This article was very insightful for me. I believe that if I had a classroom with technology capabilities, that I could easily integrate the ideas from the article into my curriculum. Students desire this, and I believe teachers have the responsibility to incorporate it into their lessons. I think it would be a decision that a teacher would never regret, as it would invigorate the classroom and cause the students to be engaged in learning.

Annotated bibliography: teaching with technology (optional)

Federal Resources for Educational Excellence. (n.d.). Free – teaching resources and lesson plans from the federal government. Retrieved from http://www.free.ed.gov/index.cfm

Summary

I found this site by choosing the free technology for ESL teachers and then looking over the main options listed there. This one jumped out at me and it is by no means just for ESL teachers. All of you should take a look at the wealth of information at this site! This site is produced by FREE, which stands for Federal Resources for Educational Excellence. This site covers nearly every content area from PE to Art, but seems to have lots of Science and History resources. I would actually say that all of the resources that are here are a bit overwhelming – just simply too many things to choose from. These are animations, documents, photos, and videos which can all lead to an endless number of possibilities. There is also a variety of professional development ideas from the Department of Education (DOE). I found the DOE's "How to Organize your Teaching" to be interesting as it provides videos to watch to help you to improve your skills as a teacher and then to improve the performance of your students. Also the advice it gives is practical.

Reflection

Several years ago, while teaching Medical English students in China, I had found the National Institute of Health's (NIH) website had lesson plans there. The FREE website has a link to the NIH lesson plans that are designed for middle school and high school students. Finding this brought back many memories to me. I had adapted several lessons from the site to meet my desire to introduce more medical vocabulary to students in a fun and exciting way. The NIH's lessons are curriculum supplements. One of those lesson supplements I used was about sleep (http://science.education.nih.gov/customers.nsf/HSSleep.htm) and another was about infectious diseases (http://science.education.nih.gov/customers.nsf/HSDiseases.htm). I highly recommend these NIH lesson plans and resources to any science teacher. My students loved the lessons, due to practicality of the lessons and knowledge. For example, for the sleep lessons, students kept track of the amount of sleep they got throughout each day for a week and then entered that data on a website provided by NIH. We then used that data to make graphs and draw some conclusions based on gender and other criteria. I think these lessons would work well for combined English and Science classes. For example, students could write a persuasive essay on what needs to be done to prevent infectious diseases or to compare and contrast diseases. So as I said already, FREE is a great site and will be one I bookmark for future reference and I recommend that you do as well.

Annotated Bibliography #5

Cheng, R. W., Lam, S., & Chan, J. C. (2008). When high achievers and low achievers work in the same group: The roles of group heterogeneity and processes in project-based learning. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 78, 205-221.

Summary

I choose this article that looked at heterogeneous groups of students because I feel that the grouping of students is an important part of the overall project-based learning (PBL) experience. The article begins with an extensive literature review covering grouping in PBL, group processes, and self-efficacy and collective efficacy and an explanation of how each of these topics related to the research. The researchers had three different hypotheses. First, they "expected that the quality of group processes or group functioning, that is, the quality of interaction among group members, might be a strong predictor of students' learning outcomes" in PBL (Cheng, Lam, & Chan, 2008, p. 207). Second, the researchers hypothesized that "the quality of group processes would be an important predictor of students' learning efficacy" and that if "the quality of group processes was high, group learning would yield positive effects for both high and low achievers" (Cheng, et al., 2008, p. 208). Third, the researchers believed "that if the quality of group processes is high, both high and low achievers would perceive high collective efficacy in doing the project" (Cheng, et al., 2008, p. 209).

This study had a fairly large population size with just over 1,900 participants (approximately half male and half female) that were divided into 367groups. All of the participants were in either seventh, eighth, or ninth grade at secondary schools in Hong Kong. There was no unified way of grouping the students across the eight schools studied. In some cases the students chose the groups; in others, the teachers chose the groups. The groups ranged in size from three students to seven students, with the average being 5.23 students per group. Of the 367 groups, 42.4% were mixed-gender groups, 29.7% were all-male groups, and 28.1% were all-female groups. The researchers stated that "group gender composition and group size were not" their main focus so they did not make any specific hypotheses regarding these factors (Cheng, et al., 2008, p. 211). They included these factors "to better understand the unique relationship between group heterogeneity and group average collective- and self-efficacy" (Cheng, et al., 2008, p. 210).

The participants of the study were administered a questionnaire that was used to measure group processes and efficacy. The researchers found that with low quality of group processes, there was a greater discrepancy between collective- and self-efficacy, while with high quality of group processes there was less of a discrepancy resulting in "both high and low achievers reporting higher collective efficacy than self-efficacy" (Cheng, et al., 2008, p. 216). The group variables of gender and size did not influence collective- and self-efficacy.

Reflection

I think that the study has some obvious limitations but does set a good foundation for further research into group processes and efficacy. One of their reported limitations included the fact that the all of the research was based on student perceptions and none by direct observation. I also found it a problem that the way the groups were put together was not considered. I believe that there would be a difference in processes and efficacy between student and teacher decided groups. The researchers may have been too sweeping in their conclusions about how gender and group size have no effect on the group process and efficacy. Even things like personality differences or cultural differences can have a significant effect on the group.

In conclusion, I agree with the findings of the researchers and believe that teachers must strive to have positive group processes for their PBL groups so that both high and low achievers can benefit from the experience. Admittedly, I am not completely sure how the teacher can always have a positive group process for their PBL groups. In addition, the type of PBL opportunity teachers provide must be authentic so that all of the students benefit from this rigorous experience. If both of these criteria are met, then goal of creating positive outcomes for student achievement and success will be accomplished. I have not had experience with PBL as a teacher, but from my Masters degree studies I have heard a lot about it and have tried to learn more about it so that when I teach again, I can try to incorporate what I have learned into the lessons. This article didn't provide earth shattering results, but did help to confirm what I think would be true about group dynamics and a student's ability to learn.

Two Million Minutes – Yong Zhao’s Message

(Note: I have realized that I referred to Yong Zhao as Mr. Yong throughout my post and that this is probably incorrect. This mistake was caused by my years of living in China and knowing that the Chinese put their family/last name first. Apparently Mr. Zhao has reversed his to be more like a Western name.)

1) What is the message sent by Yong Zhao and what is his purpose?

I believe that Yong Zhao's main purpose is to discredit and refute Mr. Compton's point of view. Mr. Yong thinks that Mr. Compton is portraying a negative idea about the American education system. He feels that it would be a mistake for the US to copy the Chinese or Indian system of education. Mr. Yong does come from a unique perspective of being born and educated in China, then coming to the US and receiving education here as well, and then later becoming an American citizen. He also speaks from his own experience of being a parent of two children that are in the US education system that he clearly states he will not send back to China to be educated. He even states that China's and India's educational systems are changing to be more like the US's system.

2) What techniques are used by Yong Zhao to attract and hold attention?

He, like the documentary, uses various persuasion techniques. Mr. Yong tries to represent himself as both an expert and a plain folk person. The expert part comes from his credentials, and the plain folk part comes from his upbringing in China and by being a father of two children in the US education system. He also uses humor such as when he says that his daughter wanted to be an elephant when she was five. Mr. Yong uses a bit of diversion, though I don't think in a bad way, to raise other issues that need to be considered. For example, he talks about the number of patents issued in China and the US or when talking about the economic export drivers between US and China (such as royalties from the US and toys in China). The use of interesting statistics are used to attract and hold attention and finally, he throws in a bit of fear when talking about the suicide rate of Chinese teenagers due to the pressures that they face.

3) What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in Yong's message?

The issues of poverty are brought up briefly when he talks about his own life and the general life in China and India. He talks about the creativeness and talents of American students when compared to the fact that he says most Chinese graduates in China are not trained or qualified for working in foreign companies in China. This is a point of view I also heard many times while in China from Chinese students themselves. Yong talks about the test culture and rote memorization of the Chinese education system which has been part of their culture for thousands of years. Yong talks a bit about the pressures facing Chinese students, but I don't think he fully explains these pressures. Yong also points out that he believes that we can't just focus on math and science and that the bigger picture is more important.

4) How might different people interpret Yong's message differently?

Some may discredit him or ignore him merely because of his accent, though I believe he is capable of expressing himself well. Some people may take his negative statistics and facts about China and hold on to them as reasons to not adopt Chinese educational ways. Facts about the suicide or mental health of the students would be enough to scare most away. Some may also blindly accept Yong's message because of his insight into both Chinese and American culture, and due to the fact that he became an American citizen. Yong comes from an educator's point of view while Compton comes from a businessman's point of view. This fact may have more people give Yong credence since it is about education, but others may like Compton since he is an outsider.

5) What is omitted from Yong's message?

Yong does not talk about how the high stakes testing in China has also created wide spread issues of cheating. He omits a whole view about India, but I suppose that is mostly just due to his lack of knowledge to talk about it. Yong did not address the difference in the amount of studying time that Mr. Compton addresses in the documentary. Yong states his opposition to "No Child Left Behind" in a passing comment, but doesn't state more about it. Probably if he did say more about it, his view and support of the American education system may have been discredited. I was surprised that Yong did not better explain the differences between the high school structures in the two countries. From my own experience, I know that Chinese high schools are divided into liberal arts high schools and science high schools, and so not all Chinese high school students get a strong background in math and science. Most of the Chinese university students I taught came from science backgrounds. Because of this, I ran into many that could not even answer basic geography questions even about this own province.

6) Now you have heard two sides of the story. Which side would you vote for?

I can't say that I agree with either side wholly. From the documentary, I support many of Mr. Compton's ideas. However, from what Mr. Compton stated in the podcast, I actually give less support to him. I feel there are many other factors that he does not address in the points he tries to make. Both sides make sweeping conclusions. Mr. Compton makes his conclusions from small sample sizes and personal experience, and Mr. Yong makes his conclusions based on personal experience and statistics. I at least fully agree with Yong that we shouldn't fully adopt the Chinese system, but I do feel that our system has become too tolerant and that we have allowed some of our standards to be lowered. In some ways, I actually think that it is due to a lowering of moral standards that we have greater issues in schools today than we had twenty years ago.

An Analysis of Two Million Minutes

1) Who is sending this message and what is the author's purpose?

Two Million Minutes is a thought provoking documentary. The messengers behind this movie seem to Robert Compton, Chad Heeter, and Adam Raney. They are the main people who put this documentary together. Two of these three have educational backgrounds; Mr. Compton has a business background. Their purpose for this documentary is to compare and contrast the educational lives of a male student and a female student in their last year of high school from schools in the USA, India, and China. They try to draw the conclusion that US students are falling behind their counterparts in China and India. There is no clear information as to where the financing of this documentary came from.

2) What techniques are used to attract and hold attention?

The shocking statistics are one way that a person's attention can be help when watching Two Million Minutes. Also, close camera shots are used. But more importantly, there are various persuasion techniques that are used in this documentary. I am not an expert on this but here are my thoughts about those techniques. I would say they use analogies to compare the students from the three countries. They say that if American students would study as many minutes as those in China and India, the results would be the same. However, there is no proof that that would be true. They use conclusions drawn from a small sample, and apply them to the populous. This is called extrapolation. They also use fear when they reported certain statistics and through the narration and images. There is a bit of nostalgia thrown in when the commentators reminisce on the past education push in the US and why it happened and why it needs to happen again. Finally, "experts" are used to add to the persuasion and fear of the current US situation.

3) What lifestyles, values, and points of view are represented in this message?

With the exception of one, all of the families were traditional in the sense of being a two parent household. The one male student from Carmel apparently had divorced parents, but that was never really addressed as being an issue. For all of the students shown in the documentary, the parents seemed to have a genuine interest in their child's education. It is hard to say for sure, but based on the homes that were pictured in the documentary, all of the students except the male one from China, lived in exceptionally nice homes. I can mention this as a person who has lived in both the US and China, and has visited India. Additionally, the extracurricular activities that the girl in China is doing (dance, violin) point to her definitely being from at least an upper middle class family.

The male US student definitely reflected a hardworking student, at least in the sense of balancing his job, school, and other activities. Both he and the female US student were able to get the schools or majors of their choice, though none of the Chinese or Indian students did despite all of their hard work in studying. The documentary seems to give that point that hard work will make all of your dreams come true, but even the end of the documentary shows that that is not true.

4) How might different people interpret this message differently?

There would be wide ranging interpretations of this message depending on who is listening. Like the one expert said in regards to parents, some US parents would agree that their child should study harder and be more like the Indian or Chinese students, but other parents would say that for them it is more important to develop life skills in addition to studying. The Chinese or Indian parents might say that their children didn't work hard enough when compared to those shown.

Depending on where the student is from, would determine how the message is interpreted. I think that most American students would not feel much impact from seeing or hearing this message. Spending all of that time studying would be a needless burden to most American students as many would not want to be classified as nerdy or geeky. From the perspective of Chinese or Indian students watching this, they would probably be in awe of these students and the accomplishments that they have made. They would tell themselves that they must work harder to achieve the same level.

5) What is omitted from this message?

One issue I feel that is somewhat omitted from the message is the issue of motivation. I know through other classes that I have taken, teachers have talked about this issue. It is obvious from the documentary that these students were clearly motivated to advance their education and knowledge. What about the students who are not motivated to do so? Only the elite students were regarded and set to be the standard.

I do not feel that this documentary clearly addressed others factors beyond education but that are yet closely related to education. Things that come to mind are responsibility and maturity. Based on my experience of teaching Chinese university students, I felt that they generally were less mature (especially emotionally) than what their American university counterparts would be.

The message also omits how the structures of the education systems are set up. I know that in China the "high stakes testing" is a major force in the education system. If the US was using the same system, many students that are in high schools now, would have never been able to reach that level. The US uses a much more inclusive system (a free and affordable public education for all) where as China and India use a much more classified and divvied up system. There are cultural factors that also must be considered in why the systems and students are different.

Evaluation of Websites for Professional Development

The following two websites were evaluated using UC Berkeley's Finding Information on the Internet Tutorial (http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html).

The First Site:
http://edu.learnit-teachit.org/

1. What can the URL tell you?

    The URL lets me know that this is an education site from which to learn something that then can be taught. It has the ".org" extension meaning that it likely originates from a nonprofit organization. The name does correspond to what is shown on the website, but it does not tell me who published the site.

2. Scan the perimeter of the page

    The "About Us" is located at the top right side of the screen. The "about us" provides full information on who the site belongs to, its goals and methods, and who partners with it. This site is put together by a non-profit organization named LearniT-TeachiT which is partnered with school districts, universities, and federal agencies. The website is copyrighted 2009. Some of the lesson plans included on the site do have dates of when they were last modified, but many do not. From the team that is listed as working for the organization, from the list of people on the advisory committee, and from the information listed at the site, I do believe that the authors are reputable people and have the wellbeing of teachers and students in mind.

3. Look for indicators of quality information

    Most of the material on this site is original. Teachers have submitted lessons that match the standards of the site. Others have created how-to videos demonstrating how to use various pieces of technology. The lesson plans contain links to other sites. After just checking a few of them, they all seemed to work. This site does not seem to offer differing viewpoints that I could find. Nevertheless, the information seems to be well organized and reliable.

4. What do others say?

    This site doesn't include a place to leave comments. In addition, after googling the site, I did not find any kind of negative comments about the site. However, I did find how this site is linked to other sites all connected to the non-profit organization. I did use the alexa.com site but I don't feel that it revealed much about this site. Alexa.com says that this site is only linked to one other one.

5. Does it all add up?

    This is a good and credible site that any teacher could use. There is a wealth of resources that can help to quickly educate a teacher on how to use certain technology and also has readily adaptable lesson plans for all ages. This site is designed to share information and to be a help to teachers. The lessons incorporate technology and literacy concepts that line up with TPACK that we learned about last week.

 

The Second Site:
http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com

1. What can the URL tell you?

    The URL reveals what this site is – teacher training videos. This site's extension is a ".com" meaning that it is a commercial site but does not require a fee to use it. The site shows the name shown in the URL but also abbreviates it to TTV and states that the author of the site is Russell Stannard.

2. Scan the perimeter of the page

    The perimeter did not contain any of the expected information. There is an "About Russell" which talks about the author of the site, but not the site itself. He does list his credentials there, which I believe are legitimate and impressive. The copyright of the site is shown as 2006-2009.

3. Look for indicators of quality information

    Russell includes links to all of the blogs he follows and I would say that these other links do provide other viewpoints and more ideas. I think that a lot of the information comes from his experience and from his interest in technology. He seems to be a patient teacher and guides those using his site to know how to use various websites and how to incorporate those sites into lesson plans. He presents the information matter-of-factly and not with any kind of strong bias. Russell also provides links to his own research that he is doing or has done.

4. What do others say?

    Alexa.com states that there are 120 sites linked to this one. There are no reviews there and nor do I see any when I google the site. Based on what I can see on the site, if leaving comments were possible, I think most people would leave positive ones.

5. Does it all add up?

    This is a helpful site that provides practical videos on how to use websites and online applications. Russell desires to make technology teacher friendly and gives easy to follow along videos.

Summary

    Both of these sites are great, but the first one would probably suit the needs of more teachers than the second. The organization and layout of the second is a bit confusing, making it less user-friendly. Both sites focus on technology, but the first provides ready to use lesson plans and has TPACK in mind. The second site gives a basic introduction to sites, but makes it up to the teacher to incorporate it into lessons. Both of these sites passed the UC Berkeley evaluation and are reputable and credible sites.

How much do you know about information literacy?

1. List 4 major search engines and a major directory.

Search Engines - Google, Yahoo, Bing, Baidu

Major Directory – ERIC database (I think)

2. What is a blog?

I would usually describe it as somewhat of a online diary, but for this class it has just been a place for us to post our assignments. But blogs are a visual way of seeing what is going on.

3. Why might you use quotation marks when conducting a search?

Quotation marks are used when you are looking for an exact term or phrase. The quotation marks help to filter the search results for exactly what you are looking for.

4. URL is an acronym for…

I can't remember.

5. Identify three Boolean search terms.

"and" "both" "except"

6. How do you find the owner or publisher of a Web site?

Usually through the "about" page or somewhere along the bottom of the webpage.

7. Identify these extensions and what they represent:

.org  (a nonprofit organization)   .com (a commercial enterprise)

.sch  (don't know)    .k12 (a public elementary, middle, or high school)

.edu (a university)     .gov (a governmental agency)

.ac  (don't know)    .net (something that is networked, but just a guess)

.mil (a US military site)    .co ( don't know)

8. How do you find out who is linked to your school's Web site?

I'm not sure what this question means. But if it means sites that belong to the university, you will always see the university's web address or name in the URL.

9. What clues in a Web address might indicate you are on a personal Web site?

I'm not sure. Do blogs count as personal websites? If so, then I can see the commercial names of blog companies in the web address.

10. How would you conduct a search for the following: a list of Web sites of all the academic institutions in South Africa? (Hint: South Africa's country code is .za)

I would go to Google and type: academic institutions in South Africa and in the advanced search section I would add the country's website code of ".za". I would refine as necessary.

11. How do you find the history of any given Web site?

No idea.

12. How would you conduct a search for the following: US higher education Web sites that contain the word turtle?

Most likely I would begin by going to Google and typing: "US higher education" and "turtle". I might have to refine it to make it US higher education web sites without the quotation marks.

13. How do sites get to the top of a result list in Google?

It is based on closeness of what you searched for and how current the information is. The popularity of the item searched for is also a factor.

 

 

Well, based on the number of questions I got completely correct, I can only be called moderately savvy. I am letting my digital immigrant accent be known! Though they suggested Altavista, I think my way of searching using Google is ok too. I learned new internet extensions, but even then, many of them I have never seen. The website states that ".edu" was for US high education, but I know that they use that in China too. In addition, I accidentally discovered that Wishard Hospital's homepage is www.wishard.edu. I also thought that www.easywhois.com could be useful when wanting to verify the validity of a site. This quiz let me learn more about the web and searching and such, but I personally was thinking that some of it is useless information or more like a Jeopardy or Trivial Pursuit answer. I guess the next time I play, I'll have the answer.