May 31st

In Class Discussion:
Coming from being disconnected from the education system since I was in high school I was amazed at how much more technology can be utilized in schools since even I graduated high school in 2010. From Google Docs, to personal websites, to canvas and other LMS which I assumed were kind of exclusive to the college sphere. Probably the coolest idea mentioned was the reverse classroom or watching lectures online as homework then traditional homework is done in class with teacher assistance. This would have been hugely beneficial to my abysmal math scores in High School if it was implemented by a teacher who cared. Of course maybe I’m too cynical, but I could see disillusioned teachers using this as a way to do all the lectures at one time then waste class time away while they hand out worksheets. A potential problem on the other end is one of my supply chain classes was taught like this and I definitely did not watch all the lectures as a student, but to be fair the professor’s videos were hilariously dull and he wore the same Hawaiian shirt in all of them.

Teaching with Technology:

My first reaction to this article was, wow this came out in 1995 that was before I entered the public school system how can what they say about technology in the classroom be relevant today? The article surprised me with its pragmatic break down of the differences between “product technologies” and “idea technologies” and in short you can have all the most current software piled up, but if like Henry Ford you have no way of efficiently using that technology to where it is easily accepted by consumers (students in this case) then they can be useless. One of the main themes of their breakdowns of different “contemporary technologies” is that students learn in different ways so some times some students learn better with traditional lectures, but switching up with groups and having some cooperative learning can help that student more or other students. Above all I found it interesting that teaching should ground students with real world examples; it’s much more interesting for students or anyone for that matter to think of economics in terms of Apple v Samsung instead of Product A v Product B.  

What is Edmundo??:

Social osmosis seems really interesting, the “membrane” seems the most critical element from keeping this from being a colossal failure. If used correctly this could be a really interesting modern way to connect with students. I am glad that modern teaching is trying to embrace technologies like smartphones which are an essential part of lives and aren’t going away and using them to enhance the learning experience outside of class as well. This site looks and feels a lot like what was said in class, facebook for education.

Edmondo Co founders Nic Borg and Jeff O'hera:

It is really cool that Edmondo was founded by teachers, and I have no doubt they had to block lots of different websites before it. It shows a great deal of entrepreneurial spirit as well, that they meet in a basement over and over again when they had time after teaching to get it off the ground.  Because of their background I really feel like they are trying to make a system that teachers want to use instead of have to use.

What flipping the Classroom looks like:

I found Clintondale High’s story really interesting especially the principal’s “idea technology” to take the model the rest of us have used to learn a whole bunch of things from coding to working on or cars outside of school, which is watching videos and then applying that to life. It is amazing that the commitment to this idea has had such a tremendous turn around for that school. I wonder if this would work better or worse for a more well off school district..

Flipping the Classroom Simply speaking:
This looks like a really cool way to engage with kids currently. I know I learn this way by watching related videos and then thinking about them, and connecting them to other things. In fact, when I have dreamed about what I would do in a classroom setting I find myself thinking less about the lectures I know I can give, but more about the discussions I can allow the students to engage in or the group work they could do on a subject. Like the Harvard guy said though kind of what you put into it is what you get out of it.

How I would implement these technologies in my class:

As mentioned I would use flipping the classroom to prepare kids for a discussion or group activity to help them think outside of the box, so if I’m in a government class I can send them lectures and videos about federalism and anti-federalism and have them group up or split them into two different groups to debate the merits of the two. Coming from a history background, if I ever had a history class I know I want to do a class discussion on how do we judge people from the past like Jefferson or Teddy Roosevelt who did great things, but also allowed for terrible things to happen. Are they terrible people or just victims of the time they lived in. These kind of discussions I think are great because there are no real right answers and they are questions every student has to find their own answers for.