Girls and Technology

TECHNOLOGY, GIRLS, TECHNOLOGY, GIRLS

I feel, after completing research for many of my assignments and attending the KSRA Reading Conference in October, that the United States is definitely behind the times with the use of technology. Okay, maybe not the entire United States - but definitely some specific locations. I found a website based out of Queensland, Australia that actually believes girls can and should become more involved in ICT endeavors. They have actually created a website devoted just for girls interested in ICT. The entire website has many useful links associated with technology and the way they incoprorate within the educational system.


Main Site Visited:
Department of Education, Training and the Arts --- Queensland

Visit these links that are also posted there:

Girls in ICT Information

Girls in ICT Website

The Digiteen Project

I have recently become involved in a project with my students that has changed the way I look at education and my curriculum in particular.

The Digiteen Project is a global hands-on project for middle and early high school students which was founded by Julie Lindsay (Qatar Academy, Qatar) and Vicki Davis (Camilla, GA USA) in 2008. This project studies digital citizenship with students researching current topics, writing a collaborative report on a wiki, and performing and documenting offline action educational projects to promote effective digital citizenship at their local schools. Topics of study include digital: access, communications, literacy, security and safety, etiquette, rights and responsibilities, law, health and wellness, and commerce.

The purpose of the project is to promote effective Digital Citizenship and responsible online choices. Students are participating from Australia, Qatar, Canada, Austria and the United States. Classrooms from India and Bangladesh are also expected to join the project shortly.

The digital tools used in this project are:

• Wikispaces - students collaborate on research of Digital Citizenship
  
  
• Ning - students are members of a social network so that they can get to know each other.
  
  
• Diigo - students & teachers use social bookmarking to share helpful resources.
  
  
• Elluminate - teachers meet weekly to discuss progress and help one another with obstacles.
  
  
• Google Groups - teachers belong to a group for communication and document sharing.
  
  
• iGoogle - teachers (and some students) share a start page consisting of shortcuts to relevant links, and rss feeds of updated project information.

So far my students have learned so much about the life of the students in these other countries. They have also learned how to use a wiki (including using the discussion tab on the wiki to propose and debate ideas for wiki content). As a result of this project, I have learned that I need to do better preparing my students for global interaction. They need to know how to communicate WELL digitally, how to use multiple applications/websites to get the job done, and how to contribute POSITIVELY to the digital society that they are so immersed in.

The Digiteen2008 Wiki will contain lots of information about Digital Citizenship and, upon project completion, will contain the offline action projects developed by the collaborative teams. Be sure to check back often to follow the project progress.

Maybe as you explore this project you'll have the same inner questions as I do... Am I really preparing my students for a digital life? Can my students really, truly collaborate with others? Are their skill sets ready for the collaboration? Do they know how to research? What can WE do starting in elementary school to build their skills?

Literacy & Technology

Just returned from the KRSA Reading Conference in King of Prussia. I heard a great speaker Dr. Donald Leu from the University of Connecticut. He spoke in depth about the need for a connection between literacy and technology. He spoke about how our country is far behind the times in preparing our children for future endeavors in the world of technology. Please take a moment to check out the website related to Dr. Leu and the University of Connecticut. There are many useful links depending on what you are interested in reading about.

http://www.literacy.uconn.edu/littech.htm

Absolutely the funniest e-learning site ever!

I stumbled on this hilarious "e-learning" site that hosts thousands of How-To-Do-It-Yourself tutorials posted by members. Topics for these instructions vary anywhere from cooking, arts and crafts to gardening and... Well, pretty much anything that you can think of, and more.


How to fire shave, make drawstring shorts in 15 minutes, guitar picks, quiche or a thumb fan are just a few examples to describe the vast offering... :)

These little tutorials are constructed of step by step instructions with pictures and YouTube videos (not in all) as illustrations. The directions are generally easy to follow. This site is a great example of how easy instruction is to create and anyone can do it, but also shows how important concise and clear language is when creating the instruction, which is usually a task for us, the professionals of the field.

If you have a moment with nothing to do, or are just curious, visit this site. I can guarantee you'll get a good laugh out of some of the tutorials, plus there are some actually useful tutorials that can teach you neat new skills and tricks!

Enjoy learning!

http://www.instructables.com/

web 2.0 in the corporate environment

Another post this week posed the question of making web 2.0 truly meaningful and effective in an industry like bio, pharma or devices. I think it can be possible for the forward thinking corporation, and also opens up opportunities for learning that veer off the traditional path.

While employed by a large pharmaceutical company, I noted several web 2.0 applications that were effective. The first was a wiki that was used to cultivate innovative ideas. The wiki was locked down to employees only, but in a company of 100,000 employees worldwide, this really wasn't a limitation. The idea was, anyone could use the wiki to share an idea that he/she thought could benefit the company. The wiki would be used to further comment upon and write about the idea, and some innovations were developed into actual programs that were implemented in the company. The entire wiki was overseen and moderated by the department that had originated it, and on the whole, it was a good opportunity for independent, motivated learning to take place. For the people involved with the wiki, I'm sure it was a much better alternative than completing an eLearning module, or listening to one of the quarterly "discussions" by members of the corporate executive team.

The second stand-out method of a web 2.0 tool for learning was blogging. Nearly every product manufactured by the company, and all the prescription drugs that were still enjoying their patent before going into generic manufacturing, had a separate site on the intranet. Most of these sites employed blogs, where brand managers, regulatory scientists and others would sporadically make posts about the product itself and all sorts of issues related to the product. Again, it was a way for people to stay informed, and learn more, without having to go the traditional route.

I think it's always good to consider ways to offer learning opportunities, even when the learners are not being assessed, certified, or otherwise quantified somehow. In a large company, if an intranet is in place, chances are the technology already exists to implement a web 2.0 learning tool. Assessment is important, and it's impossible to avoid some learning in a controlled environment, where managers and trainers can be sure that their learners have acquired the skills deemed necessary by the powers that be. I think what's often forgotten is informal learning, which can still be very valuable. Web 2.0 tools are a great way to harness attention and energy for informal learning.

Just after publishing this, I discovered that Dr. Kapp agrees with me. He says it better though, so check it out if you have a moment.

Toys for the Online Multitasker

A good friend of mine recently took a new job, and in blogging about her experience with the two day orientation training she was required to attend said that upon entering the training room, the new employees were presented with a table of toys and simple gadgets. Her first thought was one of dread- "they're going to make us do those really annoying team building exercises!" But it turned out, somebody in HR simply understood that some learners can be a bit attention deficit or are just naturally inclined to multitask. I thought about my friend's blog post when Dr. Nich described her online course experience and promised from now on, if we will promise to engage for fifty minutes, we will be granted fifteen minutes for a break.

Learners disengage at various points during class, I think. It happens in face-to-face and online environments. The danger with mentally disengaging in an online environment is that it is much easier not to plug back in. The vast world of the internet is right at the learner's fingertips, and instructors can't catch learners with eye contact or briefly stroll by a desk to nudge a learner back into the activity at hand.

The eLearning Guild had a similar tip about toys in their eBook, "The eLearning Guild's Handbook on Synchronous Learning." The eBook solicited tips from the Guild's very large membership and published them in this handbook. One tipster made the same use of toys and gadgets in her face-to-face sessions.

It's more difficult to approximate this strategy in a synchronous, online course. An instructor can offer suggestions for focusing on the topic at hand, but he/she can't display a table of appealing toys and gadgets. One way to handle this is to make sure some interactivity is built into the synchronous session- polls, mini quizzes, and handing text tools and microphones over to the students. I know for myself, I have a couple of rules that I follow for an online class, so that I don't end up disengaged for long periods of time. I always close my email application before logging into the class, and I have a scratch pad and pen next to me, separate from the notebook I use for class notes. I'm an inveterate multitasker, so staying focused on a screen and voice can be challenging for me. Often, doodling, or noting random thoughts about emails I need to send or items I need to add to my To Do list can be enough multitasking to keep me focused on the course content and away from the internet browser. I also reward myself in small ways for staying focused- like watching a video after class sometimes instead of buckling right down to homework. With more online offerings each year, learners will need tools to stay engaged and focused. Online courses are rapidly becoming the norm. In fact, according to research for another course, I found statistics that say over more than half of US degree-granting institutions offer online courses.

There are a plethora of tips out there on how to be an online learner. A lot of the tips cover time management, staying connected to peers, and dealing with technology problems. Once a learner has managed his time, learned how to stay connected to his class, and overcome any technology barriers or malfunctions, he doesn't have many resources for how to actually stay engaged in the content once he gets to it. Proper time management, and courses that appropriately serve their target audiences help, but I'm wondering what sort of tips and strategies other online learners use to keep themselves focused and interested in the course content. We've probably all had course requirements, necessary for a certificate or a degree, that we didn't find exciting or engaging. When designing courses for online delivery, engagement of the learner is a factor that instructors and facilitators should consider.