Social Networking group--NYSCATE

NYSCATE (The New York State Association for Computers and Technologies in Education)" is a non-profit, professional organization representing more than 10,000 technology using educators and administrators in New York State. NYSCATE is an affiliate of the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), and cooperates with such partners as the New York State Education Department, state and national educational organizations, private sector corporations, and publishers to further the  use of technology in our schools. NYSCATE is involved in helping define statewide policy regarding the use of technologies in education."

NYSCATE is a social networking group that I want to try in my future career. I think it's a useful and user-friendly website because I find a lot of useful information in this site. It provides you with a different groups that you can join in and a forum that diverse topics are discussed. Members share their ideas through this site and connect each other together. Say, one of the members provide a useful link that tells you to read blogs that would be useful for you if your school is using Charlotte Danielson 2007 for their APPR. (Blogs that you need to read) So for those teachers whose school is using Charlotte Danielson 2007 can go to this link and find some useful information by this link.

As what Alan Levine says in the clip Alan Levine-New Media Consortium, we can build up our own social networks by connect with our colleagues, friends or other medias. We are not born to know everything, as teachers, we also need to learn new things, ideas that help us in teaching. One of the ways to get to know more is by connect yourself with others by social networking groups.

Learner is like flowers

Learners are like flowers if teachers are gardeners. This analogy uses a lot in Chinese culture that teachers are gardeners who need to take good care of flowers-- the learners. I think this analogy is quite fit in what Connectivism Theory refer to. "Learning is a process that occurs within nebulous environments of shifting core elements – not entirely under the control of the individual. Learning (defined as actionable knowledge) can reside outside of ourselves (within an organization or a database), is focused on connecting specialized information sets, and the connections that enable us to learn more are more important than our current state of knowing." What does a teacher need to do in order to convey knowledge to students is that building a bridge that connect students to the outside world, the real world. From this point of view, learners are flowers, because they need to absorb sunshine, nutriment or other elements that fed by gardeners. Sunshine and nutriment are knowledge that teachers try to bring in the classroom.

In the presentation What is Connectivism, the presenter talks about concept of connectivism and types of connectivism. He mentions that "The experience of learning is one of forming new neural, conceptual and external networks." What I read from this point is that if learners are flowers, teachers need to bring in some new information that students can benefit from and turn those kinds of information into their own knowledge, students need to digest information but not just absorb. It is like when the gardeners help to fertilize flowers, they provide them with water, nutriments and enough sunshine, but what the flowers can do in order to grow healthy or grow well is by absorbing nutriment, sunshine, and water, and then turn them into the elements that they need to grow up. Students need to form their own thoughts by digest what teachers give them in class and to create meaningful things for themselves in the real world.

I doubt this analogy the first time I heard it, but when you think deeper, you might find this analogy does not mean force students to do something they do not like, but cultivate students to pick up what they need in life. 

Diggo VS Scoop. it

Diigo and Scoop. it are tools that we can use on any devices. They are very convenient and easy to use for everybody. 

These two advanced tools provide users with abundant of information that they can share on they homepage. Users can followed each other and search for information by type in multiple tags or key words on both Diigo and Scoop. it. This is a great way to share information and thoughts.

Despite their similarities, Diigo and Scoop.it share some differences. For example, if you use Diigo, you can highlight texts and save for later that you want to share with others, but Scoop. it does not embrace this feature. Scoop. it, on the other hand, owns some wonderful features that Diigo does not have. First of all, users can comment on other's scoop or topic and share thoughts with each other. It also allow users to copy and paste original article to appear in their comments, however, Diigo can not. Secondly, Scoop. it offers suggestions on the topic that you are searching and you can find different sources to related topic. This feature surprises me in my first try to add scoop to my topic. You can find topic by Google blog, Youtube, Google news, twitters...Anyway, you would find one source that interests you.

If I have to choose from these two tools, I think I might continue to use Scoop. it because of its power features and plenty of information that I can easily find. I do not mean I would dump Diigo, I Like Diigo as well, because it just like a library, and it's user-friendly. This is a hard question for me because I want to keep these two tools for my future use.

The Future Starts From Here

The future of teaching starts from introducing of technology. As what I see from the video “ Educational Change Challenge” and “ The Future Starts Now-2012 edition”, the import of technology becomes a trend in future teaching.

Every student can learn, but they learn differently. For a long time, the greatest hurdle of education reform is that society does not have a clear image of what school is for. People view school as a place where children can learn things, however, how can school guarantee how much children can learn or how educators mediate students? One thing inspires me in “ Educational Change Challenge” is that “In education, if you don’t use technology for learning, you may lose relevant. Educators must be relevant.” We, as future teachers, must take advantage of technology in future teaching if we want to be a “relevant” teacher. We can use computer to find materials, or we can use blog to connect with students after class. It is not a simple way to conduct a new thing in teaching, but at least we should try it and may it be useful in teaching.

“ The Future Starts Now-2012 edition” reminds me of students who use smart phone in Chinese class. This is quite a common thing happened in Chinese classroom because most of them are trying hard to learn Chinese, and they encounter problems that they need to figure out. For example, they use smart phone to check unknown words they hear from the instructor or sometimes, they use it to google relevant knowledge to the topic they discussed. The ICT (Information and Communication Technology) should not ban during class time because our students need it and they think it would help them to learn better. The problem is how can we use ICT smartly to improve learning and why ICT is so important in learning? As far as I am concerned, the use of ICT in teaching or learning may benefit both teachers and students. For students who live in rural area, they can communicate with teachers by log in the Internet, they can click on the lesson they want to learn or they assign to learn, so that they share the same opportunity with students who have class at school. The cost of learning reduced because they don’t need to travel in a long distance. Moreover, computers help students to learn differently and think differently. There are plenty of source in the Internet that students can search it, read it and react to it. Article they read could be the same, but reaction or thinking might be different due to different sources, and students need to distinguish what is right and what is wrong from what they read online.

The future of teaching starts from the implement of technology, we, as teachers, can not ignore what is happening now, but we need to accept new trend of teaching is coming, get ready for it!

The Future Starts Now- 2012 Edition

 Educational Change Challenge

mod 2

Use blog with students or own professional development

I think blog is a very convenient way to communicate for both teachers and students. One thing I would like to use blog with my students is that to post current news or events to invite students’ thoughts, ideas and comments. This is a great way to get to know your students well. By doing this, teachers might know what kind of person the students are and find ways to communicate with students, moreover, find out the best way to instruct specific students. Also, teachers can make comments on students’ thoughts, which makes it like a face-to-face communicate for both teachers and students.

 Blog is beneficial for teacher’s professional development in long term. Blogs are dynamic and focus on content. Teachers are not going to assess their students simply by what they learn in class, but what they get from the class. Teacher might have a new idea of how to assess their students by using blogs. For example, if one of the student is slow in learning in class time, however, he/she work hard after class and does great job by making comments on the current events on the blogs. This might become one of the factors that teachers need to take into consideration when they assess their students.

Critical thinking, problem solving, and decision making

Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students:

1.     Identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation

2.     Plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.

3.     Collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.

4.     Use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions.

Technology Operation and Concept

Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations.

1.     Understand and use technology systems.

2.     Select and use applications effectively and productively.

3.     Troubleshoot systems and applications.

4.     Transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies.
ISTE| NESTS students standards