edld+5362+Week+1+Assignment

Students; technological savvy has challenged schools to make greater use of computers and the Internet in their curricula. As technologies continue to advance and provide enhanced resources for learning and research with the internet, critical question arise: what teaching practices did we use to pre internet that are still used today, and what teaching practices are we doing now with the web 2.0.. Let’s look thru the eyes of a digital immigrant to see what if they understand their digital native counterparts. Let me introduce you to Jeff Funkhouser. Jeff has a master in Physic’s from the University of Texas at Dallas and has been teaching for 23 years. Jeff is currently the Head of Science at Greenhill Academy in Dallas; Tx. Jeff is in charge of curriculum and instruction for all levels of Science for Greenhill Academy. Prior to internet the instructor was the main source of knowledge on the topic and subject. “Most of my content of my class was driving by lecture and discussion on a topic and then assigning a set of problems that pertain to the topic.”(J. Funkhouser, personal communication, January 2010) Research still support that we need the teacher to content and lead discussion in the classroom. “Teacher should continue doing what they do best: leading discussion in the classroom.” (Listen to the Natives; On the Horizon, September 2001 pg. 1) Since the inception of the internet, the classroom landscape has changed dramatically. No longer is teacher the only source of knowledge, Web 2.0 has taken its place in the classroom as a learning tool. “Since the internet, my students can access software simulation programs to work on project, and they also work together outside the classroom to solve problems usually collaborative using internet sites such as Quest and Physic Web Assign; this has also allow me to provide just in time teaching prior to assessments” (J. Funkhouser, personal communication, January 2010) This is support by the current research in education: “Digital Natives are used to receiving information really fast. They like to parallel process and multi-task. (Listen to the Natives; On the Horizon October 2001 pg. 4) Student behavior and learning has also changed with the advent of the internet, no longer is the students roll largely passive and absorptive. “My students’ pre internet took note in class and maybe asked a few question. Now they know if they didn’t get the information or they don’t understand a concept they can search the web, or they’ll instant message their friend to help them understand. They rely on others in class to help them in their learning.” (J. Funkhouser, personal communication, January 2010) This concept of student ownership in the educational process is a bye product of the internet. “ There is a Pedagogical Shift happening, no longer is it the Sage on the Stage; rather learning is becoming peer-based, thus it is no longer linear in nature but exponential: (Teaching 2.0 Doing More with Less; John Seely Brown; Lecture UC Davis; 2008) Knowledge and information about a topic is always changing. In the past we had to wait for a new adoption of the text book, spend time in seminars to get the latest information, travel to library to research articles. “I use to spend at least one week a year traveling to seminars to learn about new ideas in physics and ways to teach it. Now with the internet, I subscribe to RSS feeds read other Physic teachers blogs and I can get up to date information at my fingertips.” (J. Funkhouser, personal communication, January 2010) While many people are just getting comfortable with the internet and e-mail, Web 2.0 technologies are already changing the playing field for education. “Web 2.0 is full of establish tools such as blogs (personal publishing), wikis (collaborative publishing), real simple syndication (RSS), content aggregators, streaming video (YouTube), file sharing, podcasting, and social networking (My Space). Of importance to educational leaders is that the pace of Web 2.0 technologies can almost ensure another process or tool will be gaining notoriety and presence among our students as quickly as we gain an awareness and understanding of these established tools.”(Then Next Wave Now: Web 2.0; Mills [|www.eddigest.com] ) It is difficult to know how much change the internet will continue to bring to the school landscape. I believe we will continue to need well-planned and thorough professional development for staff will be key. Incorporating the tools at the district and school levels will continue to require us to shift are instructional delivery and thoughtful planning. But it is interesting to note that even digital immigrants can still teach are new digital natives.
 * __ An Interview with a Digital Immigrant __**

Resources

Funkhouser, J. (2010) Personal Communication

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 1. //On the Horizon//, 9(5), 1.

Prensky, M. (2001). Digital natives, digital immigrants part 2. //On the Horizon//, 9(6), 4.

Brown, J. (2008). Teaching 2.0 Doing More with Less, Lecture; UC Davis, December 2008

Mills, L. (2007). The Next Wave Now: Web 2.0. [|www.eddigest.com]