Chapter 2: Transforming Learning with Unique, Powerful Technology

Focus Question: How do students use technology to access and assess information?

Photo credit to Danard Vincente on Flickr

To access information using technology students use internet sites such as official government, university, museum, and online encyclopedia websites to access unlimited information. Search engines guide students to the information they are pursuing and offer countless websites for the students to choose from. Students can also use CD-ROMs and DVDs to educate themselves on the infinite amount of subject matter that these discs can offer. To assess the information that is found students can primarily reference the information only from .org or .edu websites or the students can check the references that are posted on other privately developed websites.





Tech Tool:

Photo credit to Dan Cohen at CHNM

H-Bot is an online tool created by the people at Center for History and New Media at the University at Mason University. This tool encourages it users to ask a who, what, or when question into the space provided and H-Bot will answer it within seconds. The answer that is provided is general, sometimes to the point of it being useless, but if general information is all that the user is seeking then the website is very useful. The Center for History and New Media does however have it's own website that offers information in archival form where information is in abundance and plentiful. H-Bot is a great tool to play around with but really begs to be developed more, with more information accessible and a higher artificial intelligence.


Summary and Connection:
Chapter two of Transforming Learning With New Technologies by Maloy, R.W., Verock-­‐O'Loughlin, R., Edwards, S. A., & Woolf, B. P was another chapter stocked to the brim with information on different teaching techniques and how to apply those techniques using technology. Last semester I took Introduction to Teaching and recognized the teaching philosophies listed in this chapter and remembered a couple more, e.g. Progressivism and Essentialism. The chapter really reinforced my belief that students will learn best when the students are most involved in the direction of the class. A student-centered class help students learn through assembling knowledge within groups or discussions and helps the students discover information and how it intertwines with other questions and obstacles. Expanding the curriculum to include active learning, creative problem solving, and reflection and experiences also helps the students broaden their minds. The chapter also focused on the benefits of multi-media education as opposed to the flat and static text on paper that is used in the classroom books today. The idea to integrate music and podcasts with panoramas, time series graphs, and high resolution images and connect them in two and three dimensional space is ground breaking. To "recreate the past, view the present, and envision the future" a teacher must use the best technology has to offer to better engage the student through this journey.


Food For Blog:
It is understood that almost all information that is gathered for research purposes is found on the internet. Everyone from 2nd grade students to a Professor pursuing a Doctorate Degree is using the internet to obtain information. But is this information reliable? A study conducted by Teaching Internet Comprehension to Adolescents (TICA) found that fewer than 10% of students in 7th grade checked the accuracy of the information they found on the internet. If information is power is it any wonder why our education has become our weakness?