Blog #2

Making the Implicit Explicit by:  Marcomagrini and Ben Oh

 The part of this blog that peaked my interest was the following: 

One of the issues that comes up again and again in our CoETaIL program is the “essential technology skills” that all of our students (and teachers) need to know. Now, I have to admit, I usually have a hard time with this idea, because it often comes with a list of skills like: bullets in Word, formulas in Excel or animations in PowerPoint. Basically all the things I’ve been trying to de-emphasize in favor of bigger, more wider-reaching concepts like collaboration across distances, communicating ideas to multiple audiences, or creating something new using technology tools.


Sure, you need to know how to add bullets – but you should learn how when you’re writing a list (“just in time“), not for the sake of knowing “just in case” you might need it. So, it was very interesting to me when our conversation in our last course took a turn to something I can really relate to – rather than the list of standard MS Office “skills” that were all the rage in the 1990s (with the previous edition of the NET*S), but those almost unidentifiable skills that frequent computer users just seem to take for granted.

http://mscofino.edublogs.org/2009/12/10/making-the-implicit-explicit/comment-page-1/#comment-4029 

Response:

I enjoyed reading this blog.  I am a Computer Skills teacher and I understand the frustration you explain in this post.  I feel like I am constantly teaching my students tasks that they should already know how to complete.  I have students that do not know how to create a folder in their Documents or H:Drive.  I also have students that don’t know how to change the font style in Word, Publisher, PowerPoint or Excel.  I feel like I have to reteach the simple things about using a computer.  I think that if technology or computer savvy teachers shared the above posted bulleted list of standard skills with other teachers maybe that would eliminate the need to teach all of these skills. But then there are some students that come into my class and are already aware of these skills and are more proficient than their fellow classmates.  I agree that once students and teachers know how to complete these tasks, they will be able to remember how to do them with other programs. 

Reflection #1

What attitudes, skills, and concepts have you gained from participating in the course so far? 

•  I like the idea of having students on a wiki and allowing them to edit their page based on different assignment.  This would be a good idea for them to share what website they used for a given assignment and it would also allow them to use a different type of technology.  
• I also like the idea of discussing using the wiki.  The only problem I can see is that I would have to constantly monitor their posts to ensure that they are appropriate.  My students would be able to talk with one another without actually having to talk across the classroom.

What have you learned in the course that you will not forget tomorrow?

•  I have learned to that educational blogs can be extremely helpful and can provide teachers with different resources and ideas.  I found Diigo to be more helpful than I had imagined.  I wasn't sure what it would be able to provide me in this course.  I think it would be a great way for teachers in a district and teachers in other districts to collaborate with one another.  They would be able to send teachers to a blog that they used in their classroom and could even leave a sticky note to direct them in what they would to be helpful or what they changed.

 How will you apply what you have learned to your teaching and future learning? 

•  I plan on looking into creating a wiki for my class.  I currently use Edmodo as a classroom management software but it doesn't allow much for collaboration between students.  I think the wiki would allow them to respond to one another without having to write it on paper and handing it to their classmate.  
• I will also use some of the resources I found while completing the webliography in my classroom.  There were a lot of good ideas that I can incorporate into my computer skills curriculum.