Technology Self Assessment: School 2.0

        I researched the 2nd NETS-1 module, Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments. I read an article Too Cool For School? No Way! by Punya Mishra and Matthew Koehler.  The article explains how we live in an age of cool tools such as Facebook, Iphone, Flickr, blogs, Cloud Computing, Smart Boards, You Tube, Google Earth, and GPS can be repurposed as classroom aids that change the way we think about teaching and learning.  Mishra and Koehler state that in order to integrate and repurpose the tools, educators are required to have a specific kind of knowledge called technological pedagogical and content knowledge, TPACK. It is a knowledge of embedding content, pedagogy, and technology and it lies at the intersection of what we teach and how we teach.  The reason I chose this article is because it is topic in today’s society of how to make classroom instruction creative and engaging for students based on their interests.

In the article, I learned that each technology has a potential and a problem that educators need to understand before using them for pedagogical purposes.  There are several steps in repurposing a cool tool.

1. Knowing the rules of the game/application and which rules to bend, break, and to leave alone.
2. Transformation of content needs to be intellectually accessible to students.
3. Deep understanding needs to be developed through training and deliberate practice.

There were three examples provided that can be repurposed for educational instruction which are Microblogging, Visual Search Engines, and Music DJ Software. I thought it was interesting how Visual Search Engines that include Viewzi, Cuil, and Clusty  can help students understand intertextuality in an English class. Intertextuality is a concept that texts often refer to each other in complex and intricate ways in order to create webs of meaning. Students use a search engine where they input a famous line or a character’s name.  Students then see how words and phrases are borrowed and how the words or phrases can have separate meanings in different contexts.  Finally, teachers can create discussion around the nature of intertextuality.  As I searched some of the engines, it looks like Viewzi is no longer available since 2010. 

Try these out:

Cuil

Clusty