Blog 4 - Emerging Technology that Supports Communication and Collaboration

I have always struggled with how to implement effective communication and collaborative tasks (aka group work) into my classroom. This chapter provided a lot of great information - albeit dense - on how to effectively plan, develop, and analyze the tasks.

One thing that I especially liked was the information given on planning effective projects. Since "the planning stage is the most crucial for creating a successful project," I think that this is the area that teachers should spend a considerable amount of time addressing (Egbert, 2009). Within the chapter, Egbert provides a table in which she outlines the steps for planning, developing, and analyzing"technology-supported communication" (Egbert, 2009).

During the planning stage, Egbert states that "teachers should make sure that the process and outcomes are specific, relevant, and based on goals" (2009). I think that sometimes teachers get wrapped up in creating a project, merely for the sake of doing something different from the normal routine. It's so important that we, first of all, look at the goal/objectives that we hope to address through the instruction. Then we look at creating assignments that meet these goals. Without the goal, the assignment is pointless.

When developing a project, we should "observe students and make change in the project as necessary to meet student needs and curricular goals" (Egbert, 2009). Sometimes, when a teacher has spent ample time creating a project, he/she has a blind eye to the weaknesses of the assignment. It's critical that we are able to view the project from an outsider's perspective and make changes as needed from day-to-day or even from segment-to-segment. I know that I have had to alter an assignment from one segment to the next, and I imagine that I'm not alone in this.

Finally, a point that I felt was so critical to the successful implementation of a project, is that "analysis ... should be conducted by all participants. Participants should also take part in evaluation" (Egbert, 2009). This is a critical way to give the students ownership of the assignment and their role in it. Egbert goes on to encourage teachers to wrap up the assignment through "appropriate closure" activities (2009). The closure is so often neglected once the assignment is complete. I think that putting the materials away is the idea of closure for some teachers, but it's important that we provide a summation of the activity so that our students know the "why" behind the assignment.

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Blog 2 - Emerging Technology that Supports Content Learning

In the beginning of the chapter, I really appreciated reading about the three types of knowledge outlined for the reader: declarative, structural, and procedural. The way that Egbert described the ways in which these types of learning relate to each other and meld together made me evaluate my own teaching. I tried to focus and reflect on my own teaching to evaluate the type of knowledge that I'm helping to impart on my students.

One statement that stood out to me in the reading was that "different ways to learn and teach content might be necessary across disciplines" (Egbert, 2009). As a teacher of two contents - math and language arts - I thought about my own teaching and how I approach these very different areas in different ways. The way that I present the material in the math class is much more straightforward and procedural; however, in my language arts classroom, I tend to approach the material in a way that allows the students an opportunity to be more creative. This allows them the chance to develop their own learning through their writing and the delving into the literature. It made me realize that I should create more opportunities in my math classes for students to develop their own learning and knowledge.

After reflecting on my own teaching and the information presented in this chapter, one of the biggest ideas that I will take from the chapter is to create meaningful knowledge through the use of more advanced ways of learning rather than through lots of memorization and other means of declarative knowledge. As Egbert expressed, "instead of content knowledge being only the forebear of other types of thinking, gains in content knowledge are a result of those types of thinking" (2009).

Egbert, J. (2009). Supporting learning with technology: essentials of classroom practice. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.