EdTechBytes

Disrupting Class, by Clayton Christensen, was one of the readings for EDUC 874: The Achievement Gap. Of particular interest for us in education and technology is Christensen’s proposal that highly customizable computer based instruction will meet the demand for individual instruction, thereby changing the nature of teaching and learning in education. In terms of closing the achievement gap, the question then becomes- can technology close the achievement gap?

Any teacher who customizes their instructional materials would be interested in easy to use, readily accessible technology that makes designing instructional activities appropriate to student needs quick and easy. Back in my special education teacher days in early 2000, I used the Coursebuilder extension for Dreamweaver to create online activities for my class since functional mathematics wasn’t exactly a hot web topic.  I also wanted my students to have opportunities to learn technology skills through relevant activities from simple review games to more open ended webquests. Eventually, I learned some of the action scripts to create Flash activities, but all this took lots of time. 

Two promising Web 2.0 tools that are beginning to make programming more accessible to educators are Scratch and Popfly. Could these tools be the early beginning of Christensen’s highly customizable computer based instruction? So far the education offerings are slim and most of the examples are games and other types of interactive activities- nothing that could be classified as being anything close to “disrupting class.”

But, at the same time it is encouraging to see these types of tools become more accessible to non-techies. With the ability for anyone to create videos, podcasts, and other media on the web, and with the emerging ability to create customizable online interactive simulations/activities, perhaps the idea of “highly customizable” instruction is closer than previously imaginable. 

So I hope to give Scratch and Popfly a closer look, and maybe convert some of my old special education math activities to this newer format.

As part of my doctoral studies at George Mason, I’m helping Dr. Schrum and Ms. Solomon with the follow up book to Web 2.0: New Tools and New Schools. We are looking for educators with compelling stories of how they have used Web 2.0 tools in their classroom to feature in the book. So, if you have a story to share, please take the survey below.

http://tinyurl.com/cmu4qy

How can the iPod Touch facilitate teaching and learning? From an educator perspective, more importantly, what kinds of technical, instructional, and administrative support are needed to maximize the potential?

I’m fortunate to be at a school chosen to participate in an iPod Touch pilot, where a classroom of 30 students will have an iPod Touch to use at home and at school.  As hardware and software costs continue to decrease, it’s inevitable that these technologies that enable 1:1 computing in some format, whether it be laptops, netbooks, palm pilots, or iPods,  will be available in more and more schools. There are several districts, classrooms, and schools where such programs are already in place, so naturally we are all obviously excited about the project. 

More to follow….

For those of us who work in technology, late May/ early June is online testing month for our students. And for most teachers pursuing National Board, May and June is typically the time most take their online assessment. To any teachers who want some informal  practice, I made this site a few years ago to help the candidates in my prep courses. 

So best wishes to all those taking those online tests.

Welcome to EdTechBytes. After tinkering with my Web 1.0 teacher website on and off for about six years, I’ve finally decided to migrate to a WordPress format.

This is a continuation of my old teacher website (formerly at www.e-ledesma.com).  According to my visitor statistics, the two resources used most often were my National Board Assessment Center simulation and the functional mathematics website.  Those sites will now be accessible through the menu on the top of the page. I will be migrating many of the resources from that site to this website over the next few days so there may be some broken links until the process is complete.

Thanks for visiting.