Week 13: "Drill and Practice" or "Drill and Kill"

Some people say drill and practice is really "drill and kill." What can teachers do to make

sure this kind of use doesn't happen and drill and practice can serve a useful function?

Drill and practice strategies have a place in the instructional "tool bag" of the teacher. Drill functions can include flash card, branching drills and extensive feedback activities. Research has shown drill and practice to be an effective tool in transferring concepts and skills into the long term memory of students. But in spite of the well-documented history of the usefulness of drill and practice, it has drawn criticism from some educators.

In order for a teacher to be successful in their use of drill and practice I believe that it they should first understand the limitations of this strategy. Criticism has been directed at the misuses of drills due to long periods of drill time and the use of drills to introduce new concepts rather then practicing what has already been taught in the class room. Some critics believe that the isolated skills of drills and the directed practice contradicts integrated teaching strategies.

The teacher has several options open to them in avoiding these criticisms while providing a useful learning experience. Setting time limits for drilling will help keep the student from becoming bored and considering drilling a dreaded routine. By introducing new concepts prior to drilling, the time spent in this activity will be focused on practice and transferring learned skills into long-term memory. Students may also be assigned individually to computers for drilling in order to take advantage of the self-pacing and immediate and personalized feedback. Some teachers have also used drilling as a group activity in a competitive setting. Drilling can also be setup in learning center formats for those students who need work in an area they are weak in.

Week 11: Distance Technologies

Some educators feel that distance technologies will greatly improve education; some feel education will suffer if they are overused. What are factors you can cite in support of each of these positions?

Distance technologies improve education:

From the Distance Learning College Guide:

• "Distance learning does not require commuting. This saves you money and time that you’d otherwise spend on travel back and forth to school. You can schedule learning around other aspects of your personal and professional life.
  
• You can complete most of the classes at your convenience. Most of the classes are asynchronous, which means you don’t have to attend a lecture at a particular time and place. You can review the assignments and do your homework during off-hours or from home.
  
• Live anywhere, study from anywhere while pursuing the education of your choice. You don't have to live in the same city or the same country to attend the learning institution of your choice. You can study wherever you have access to a computer and Internet connection.
  
• Gain extra knowledge. You can transfer the computer and Internet skills that you'll gain in the process of your distance learning experience to other facets of your life.
  
• Self-paced learning. For slow and quick learners. This reduces stress and increases satisfaction.
  
• Accessibility. Online classes address physical accessibility issues that some people with limited mobility encounter when taking traditional classes. You don’t have to worry about gaining access to a classroom or sitting on uncomfortable desks. Instead, you can use your comfortable furniture in your home while enjoying free movement and a chance to further your education."
• http://www.distance-learning-college-guide.com/advantage-and-disadvantage-of-distance-learning.html

From The Technology Source Archives at the University of North Carolina:

• "Expanding access. Most states need to expand access to education in order to meet the education and training needs of state residents and companies and to educate under-served populations. For many people in the past, academic program calendars have not matched work and family responsibilities, and program offerings may not have met learner needs.
• Alleviating capacity constraints. Many states are expecting more college students over the next decade than their facilities can accommodate. Some are hoping to leverage the scalability of distance education to avoid overwhelming their bricks-and-mortar capacities.
• Capitalizing on emerging market opportunities. The public’s growing acceptance of the value of lifelong learning has fueled an increased demand for higher education services among people outside the traditional 18-24 age range. Emerging student segments, such as executives seeking further education and working adults, may be more lucrative than traditional markets. By capitalizing on emerging market opportunities, many educational institutions hope to generate significant revenue.
• Serving as a catalyst for institutional transformation. Higher education institutions are being challenged to adapt rapidly to an increasingly competitive environment. Distance education can catalyze institutional transformation."
  http://technologysource.org/article/nature_and_purpose_of_distance_education/
  
  

Education suffers because of the overuse of technology:

From the Distance Learning College Guide:

• "Costly and complex technology. Despite the many opportunities of distance education, there are inevitable accompanying costs. Live video communication for example, requires careful planning of the equipment and facilities. For online learning, you must own a computer (possibly with access to the internet) or have access to one. Thus required technology is not always available. Some learners may also be afraid(technophobic) of technology.
• Advance planning. Both the instructors and students involved in distance learning may need to make sacrifices at times to get things done in time.
• Hidden costs. If you work for the military for example, and you are on the ship, how do you get your materials? They may need to be mailed in advance incurring extra shipping and handling costs.
• Distance learning does not offer immediate feedback. In a traditional classroom setting, a student's performance can be immediately assessed through questions and informal testing. With distance learning, a student has to wait for feedback until the instructor has reviewed their work and responded to it.
• Distance learning does not always offer all the necessary courses online. Students pursuing a specific certificate or degree program may not have all the necessary courses available through distance learning so it is not suited for all subjects. While you can study a history lesson completely online, you cannot perform nursing clinicals online. Thus physical classroom attendance will be mandatory to complete the course.
• Distance learning may not be acknowledged by all employers. Although most employers do acknowledge distance learning, certain employers do not. Students who want to work for a specific employer upon graduation should be sure of that employer's perspective about online education.
• Distance learning does not give students the opportunity to work on oral communication skills. Students in distance learning courses do not get the practice of verbal interaction with professors and other students.
• Social isolation. Most often you'll be studying alone. Distance learners may feel isolated or miss that social physical interaction that comes with attending a traditional classroom. However this impersonality has been lessening with advances and use of communication technologies such as bulletin boards, threaded discussions, chats, email and conferencing."
• http://www.distance-learning-college-guide.com/advantage-and-disadvantage-of-distance-learning.html

Week 9: Issues Related to Training SE Teacher for Technology

Describe issues related to training special education teachers to use technology.

I found it interesting that special education technology has been a part of the US system since 1879 when Congress approved $10K for Braille material. And later on the government created SEIMCs to help make education technologies more accessible to SE teachers. With that as a backdrop, and in spite of the efforts of universities and colleges to training teachers on the use of technology, there still remain issues in this area. Today’s teaching student is generally tech savvy but much of this knowledge is centered on communication software, spreadsheet, word processor, graphic production software products. What many new teachers have is little exposure to those technologies that help their effectiveness in teaching their students and by extension, the improvement of their student’s grasp of the content. The area of assistive technologies is another area where that is most likely little to no exposure by the new SE teacher.

Give examples of no-tech, low-tech, and high-tech solutions for special students.

A few examples of tech solutions for special education students are:
No-tech; Teaching to person to use their body in a different manner to minimize impairment such as typing with one hand. No-tech solutions are those that are available in any environment at any time with no limitations.
Low-tech; Organizational systems, highlighters, portable dictionaries or other non-electrical solutions that provide support in specific tasks. Low-tech solutions are also low in cost and are flexible to the student’s needs
High-tech; Can be complex electrical or hydraulic systems such as stair-lifts, powered wheelchairs, voice-activated environmental controls, electronic spelling checkers. The high-tech solutions are more costly and more restrictive due to user skills and portability.

What are the "history wars," and what are their implications for technology use in history?

The "history wars" refer to a debate about the content of Social Studies classes. The debate is concerns the role of history in the Social Studies curriculum. Some of the questions that are part of this debate are whether Social Studies should be mainstream and traditional historical events or whether broader themes should be taught.

With technology providing more access to information via the Internet, the debate about Social Studies content is partly in the hands of the students. Students can research information on more traditional history topics or may find other social issues more interesting. In any event, not only will the teacher need to know mainstream history but also continue being exposed to broader issues in order to intellectually "feed" the student.

With students' ready access to information on the Internet, what might be the concerns of social studies teachers?

The concern that any teacher may have with information from the Internet is reliability. While a teacher may provide links for students to use for research, there is no guarantee that the student will stay within the directed "zone" of research. If the Internet becomes the primary source of student information for Social Studies then the teacher's influence as the Subject Matter Expert can be diminished. I can't see the Internet losing ground to traditionally taught subjects so the best that educational institutions is adapt and direct the learning experience rather then be pushed along by the massive data available on the web.

TIP Model Phase 4-Preparing the Instructional Environment

TIP Model Phase 4-Preparing the Instructional Environment

Esmeralda is having her students do a social studies project in which they do "virtual interviews" of experts on various periods in U.S. history. She schedules time in the computer lab and has them locate experts by searching Internet sites. She gives them an initial list of sites, but encourages them to branch out from there, looking for additional sites on their own. There is no lab manager and she has to go back to the classroom for periods of time as they work, but she knows they are competent Internet users and can be trusted not to leave the lab without permission. For their contacts with experts, she has them prepare a standard email with the school name; their names, ages, addresses, and personal email addresses, if they have one; and a description of what they would like to know.

1. Assuming she is correct that students will not leave the lab with permission, is Esmeralda's plan for having students use the Internet a good one? Why or why not?

Having the students us the Internet is a good idea but Esmeralda’s plan is not fully thought out. I appreciate her approach to giving the students the opportunity to “discover” by using a constructivist strategy. She is encouraging the student’s creativity in resolving the assigned task. But I believe that a more directed strategy will yield greater results and still encourage creativity. Too much flexibility in locating experts can lead to unverifiable information, wasted time and the likelihood of an uncompleted task.

2. Do you see any problems with the email she is having them send?

The email that Esmeralda is having the students prepare has personal information that could be used by others to make contact with the student. As a parent, this would greatly concern me because it places my child in a possibly dangerous situation. And to take this point further, the scenario above does not indicate that the teacher has gotten permission from the parents before attempting to contact the history experts. The process of obtaining permission would have prevented the emails from going out due to the effect of accountability on the teacher by involving school administrators and parents.

3. How would you change her plan to improve it?

I believe that Esmeralda’s plan can be improved on by foregoing the interviews with experts and instead have the student conduct their own research. By not requiring interviews, the teacher will no longer need the student to attempt to contact the expert. She could expand on the list of vetted web sites while giving the students some freedoms to find new ones. The new web site searches could be limited in time so that valuable lab time is not spent on “surfing” and not on production of meaningful research. And the new sites should be approved before the students invest time in meaningful research. Since there is not a lab manager, the teacher could divide the assigned task into increments and then monitor the time spent on each so as to provide structure and a timeline to keep the student’s work moving forward. To begin the project, it would be helpful if the teacher demonstrated what she was expecting from the student, provided an example as well as a grading rubric to eliminate misunderstandings and set expectations.