Reviews
for CHOICE,
a publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries,
100 Riverview Center, Middletown, CT 06457-3445
and other venues
by David L. Stoloff, Professor
and Chair, Education
Department,
Eastern Connecticut State University
20) Edutopia: Success stories for learning in the digital age, foreword by George Lucas. Milton Chen, Executive Editor, Sara Armstrong, Editor. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2002. ISBN 0-7879-6082-9. reviewed on June 12, 2002
Building from The George
Lucas Education Foundation website, http://www.glef.org ,
this text and accompanying CD-ROM celebrates innovators in educational
technology applications in schools in the United States. This book
profiles schools which emphasize emotional intelligence and project-based
learning through the applications of computer-based tools and features 40 case
studies on innovative classrooms, involved communities, and skillful
educators. Since as Professor Allen Glenn suggests that “the biggest obstacle to school change
is our memories,” this
collection introduces those interested in schools, learning, and educational
technology with ways of visualizing best practices in curriculum realignment,
social/emotional learning, assessment, school district re-organization, and
professional development and renewal. The accompanying CD has over 70
minutes of QuickTime movies on laptop use in a middle school in New York City,
hands-on projects in a Virginia elementary school, social and emotional learning
in a New Jersey middle school, reading, writing, and social development in New
Haven schools, performance-based assessment, real-world geometry in a
Washington state high school, community involvement in a San Jose K-5 charter
school, the University of Virginia’s
teacher preparation program, mid-career professional becoming teachers, and
George Lucas on the importance of teachers.
21) Rose,
D. H. and Meyer, A., with Strangman, N. and Rappolt, G. (2002) Teaching
every student in the digital age: Universal Design for Learning.
Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development. ISBN 0-87120-599-8.
Reviewed on
September 24, 2002
Developed by
the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) co-directors, this textbook
advocates for a Universal Design for Learning (UDL), “a research-based set of principles
that forms a practical framework for using technology to maximize learning
opportunities for every student.”
These principles are founded on research on brain functions and on the efficacy
of flexible instructional media. The authors find that there are no
“regular” students and that learning is a
complex series of bottom-up and top-down, instinctual and socially developed,
processes of recognition, strategic, and affective networks of brain functions
within individualized learning contexts. They also conclude that
digital media have power to be versatile, transformable, easily marked for
diversity of presentation, and networked with other learning resources.
The authors provide case studies, which outline the applications of UDL to
enhance learning. They suggest that UDL may more accurately assess
student progress, support individual differences, and enable embedded
assessment to provide ongoing feedback. The text includes appendices of
planning templates and references. The parallel online version at http://www.cast.org/TeachingEveryStudent
demonstrates “the
flexible, interactive nature of networked digital materials” through threaded discussions and an
expanding set of related Web links.
22)
Weller, Martin. Delivering
learning on the net: the why, what & how of online education. London, UK : Kogan Page Limited,181p
bibl index ISBN 0-7494-3675-1 pbk $25.00. reviewed on
December 4, 2002
This text is
a well-designed and entertaining guide to e-learning and online
education. The author, a creator of an online course, T171 – “You, Your Computer and the Net”, delivered by the United Kingdom Open
University to tens of thousands of students worldwide, sets the stage by
discussing the strengths of the Net when compared with other educational
technologies. He then explores and explodes e-learning myths, which
include that online learning is not of the standard of face-to-face, oncampus
instruction. Lessons learned from e-commerce serve as part of the
foundation he develops for an overview of the motivations and planning of
e-learning and an analysis of the costs of differing forms of online teaching.
Dr. Weller explains how this form of educational delivery requires new
strategies for teaching, communicating, assessing, integrating other
technologies, and redefining the intellectual ownership of ideas. He
concludes that the future of e-learning will be shaped by successes in
e-commerce, changes in technology, “the
students, particularly those of the next generation who have grown up online as
it were, and the educators who begin to fashion something new, appropriate and
most of all exciting in this medium.”
23)
Standards-based school mathematics curricula: What are they? What do students
learn?, ed. by Sharon L. Senk
and Denisse R. Thompson. L. Erlbaum, 2003. 515p bibl
indexes afp ISBN 0-8058-4337-X, $110.00 reviewed on December 26, 2002
This comprehensive
compilation of evaluations of 17 university-school district-federal initiatives
to enhance mathematics learning within diverse US K-12 schools begins with a
historic review of reform movements for mathematics teaching within US public
schools. The most influential of recent documents is the Curriculum and
Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics published by the National Council
of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in 1989, also known as the Standards document
referred to in the title. The editors provide a context for the
research and development of the projects by describing their associated NCTM
standards and reviewing the research on US student achievement in comparison
with other international evaluations. A discussant concludes that there
are few common curricular themes within the projects besides that they have
common standards, that there is a “tendency of students in the new curricula to
perform at the same level as comparison students on standardized tests and to
perform at higher levels on specially designed tests”, that the new curricula
are difficult to complete in a year, and teachers tended to adapt the
curriculum to fit their classroom situations.
A review for the preservice.org community posted on March 20,
2003
Solomon,
G.; Allen, N.J.; and Resta, P., editors. (2003) Toward
digital equity: Bridging the divide in education. Boston:
Pearson Education Group. ISBN 0-205-36055-6.
This
collection of leading edge essays on concerns about digital equity features the
reflections of several members of the ThinkQuest for Tomorrow’s Teachers community – Gwen Solomon, Kathleen Fulton, Robert
Sibley, Carmen Gonzales, Steven Sanchez –
and other leaders in instructional technology and education. The editors
define digital equity in education as “ensuring
that every student, regardless of socioeconomic status, language, race,
geography, physical restrictions, cultural background, gender, or other
attribute historically associated with inequities, has equitable access to
advanced technologies, communication and information resources, and the
learning experiences they provide.”
Gwen Solomon and Nancy J. Allen introduce the obstacles in the way of digital
equity – including
access, poverty, spending on education and technology, the uses of technology
in schools, and the need for professional development for teachers and
administrators – and the
opportunities for preparing future teachers for leadership roles and
empowerment through skills in educational technology.
The text is
divided into four sections. In section one – setting the stage - Karin Wiburg and Julia Butler provide a historical framework for
access issues in education. Kathleen Fulton and Robert Sibley outline the
barriers to equity in a digital age. Karin Wiburg et.al. present
various factors influencing the digital divide through a case study of
the digital divide in a Southwest border community.
Power and
literacy is focused on in section two. Joyce Pittman discusses how one
may facilitate educational empowerment in organizations and individuals. Kevin Rocap overviews how technological
changes relate to the changing definitions of literacy in the 21st
century.
Section three
emphasizes learners and technology. Henry Ingle describes how cultural
perspectives affect the use or appropriation of digital technologies.
Vivian Delgado illustrates these perspectives in a case study of technology and
Native America. Amy Staples and Joyce Pittman discuss how technology
empowers teachers to work with all students, especially those with disabilities
in the general education classroom. Lynne Schrum
and Sandra Geisler describe how cultural stereotypes
impact choices regarding the applications of technology across gender.
Lynne Schrum and Bonnie Bracey discuss how
technology-enhanced curriculum supports the goal of greater equity.
A road map to
the future is the concern of section four. Carmen Gonzales and Steven
Sanchez discuss the policies necessary to ensure that all students have
equitable access to technology. Nancy Allen and Linda
Wing overview the characteristics common to leaders whose institutions are
making significant progress toward achieving digital equity.
Karen Keenan and Joan Karp describe the processes which help educational
move toward digital equity. J. David Ramirez outlines the most effective
methods for assessing digital equity. Paul Resta and Robert McLaughlin
describe policy implications and recommendations at the national level for
establishing the direction and rate of progress of digital equity.
Gwen Solomon
concludes the text by summarizing and discussing the implications of each the
four sections. Gwen notes that “however
optimistic we are and however much progress we have made in using technology in
education and in achieving digital equity, we know that there are certain areas
that continue to need improvement.”
Although “school systems,
perhaps even more than any other part of society, are slow to change,”…educational “leadership is possibly the single most
important element in creating the systemic, sustained transformation of
learning communities required to meet the challenges that face education today.” Gwen poses an intriguing
closing question – “in a context of limited resources,
should digital equity have a higher priority than other aspects of the larger
social divide, or will efforts to overcome other inequities ultimately have a
positive effect in promoting digital equity?”
This text was
developed partially as an outgrowth of discussions within the US Department of
Education’s Preparing
Tomorrow’s Teachers to
Use Technology (PT3) Program’s
Digital Equity Task Force. The task force’s portal is located at http://digitalequity.edreform.net/home/
and serves as a valuable supplement to the vital discussions in the
textbook. This text is highly recommended for members of the PT3
and T3P – preservice.org
communities and for graduate seminars in educational technology and the social
foundations in education. Congratulations to the text’s editors and contributors for their
service in moving these issues further in the conversation on technology and
the future of learning and teaching.
*************
24) Romano,
M. T. (2003). Empowering teachers with technology: making it
happen. Lanham, MD: A Scarercrow/Education
Book. ISBN 0-8108-4629-2.
reviewed on June 26, 2003
Starting with a study on the use of closed-circuit television in medical and
dental schools in 1961, the author continued his action research on "the
potential of technology to empower teachers at all levels and enhance learner
achievement" and his chronicling of 50 years of unrealized expectations
for educational technology. Following a discussion of the implications of
the information age, educational television, and computers on classroom
instruction, Dr. Romano presents a model for technology-enhanced
curriculum. Drawing on the "stages of instructional evolution"
suggested by the Apple Classroom of Tomorrow project - the adaptation model in
which "technology is thoroughly integrated into the classroom in support
of existing practice" and the transformation model where "technology
is a catalyst for significant changes in learning practice; where students and
teachers adopt new roles and relationships", he suggests that a final goal
of this instructional evolution would be the technology-dependent curriculum,
which would provide learners more individualized attention, the opportunity to
progress at an individualized pace, and allow learners to develop a broader
range of capacities within a more compelling whole-brain leaning
experience. More details on achieving these goals would fill another
valuable text.
*************
A review for TCRecord.org
Post-modern Chataquas,
Learning Webs, and Classrooms of Many:
A Review of Dr. Gene Maeroff’s
A Classroom of One
A review by Dr. David L. Stoloff, Professor and Chair, Education Department,
Eastern Connecticut State University
http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentID=11182
David Stoloff
is Professor and Chair of the Education Department at Eastern Connecticut State
University in Willimantic, Connecticut. He also coordinates an online Master of
Science in Educational Technology program, which is outlined at
http://www.easternct.edu/depts/edu/edtech.html, and the Connecticut State
Department of Education-funded EFFECT Project (Experiences for Future
Connecticut Teachers), which integrates web-based communications to recruit
high school students into teaching. His research interests include online
learning and teaching, international and cross-cultural education, and educational
reform.
Dr. Maeroff has provided the education community with a
service through his status report on online learning and teaching in A
Classroom of One: How Online Learning is Changing
Our Schools and Colleges (New York: Plagrave
MacMillan, 2003).
Recognizing the difficulties in chronicling the dynamic force of online
learning, he notes that most of the book is written in the past tense and the
challenge of writing was like taking “a
snapshot of a cyclone”
(page xi). Dr. Maeroff suspects that ultimately online courses “will work best and prove most
attractive when directed at mature adult learners” (page xii).
The text begins with a global perspective on online learning for both K
through 12 education and higher education. Chapter 2 revisits the history
of distance learning and concerns about content, design, and instruction.
Dr. Maeroff in chapters 3 through 6 focuses on the nature of interactions
and facilitating conversations within online learning and the responsibilities
of both the learners and the instructors in achieving successful experiences at
a distance. Chapters 7 and 8 raise the issues of how online learning is
changing as a business and how it changes education for careers.
Dr. Maeroff in chapter 9 reviews the literature that questions the academic
legitimacy of online learning and teaching which leads to a discussion of its
regulation and accreditation in chapter 10. He suggests in chapters 11
that “if nothing else,
the availability of online learning may force schools and colleges to reflect
on their missions and on how they discharge their responsibilities” (page 195) and reflects that online
learning supports a new emphasis on learning outcomes. In chapter 12, he
also posits that online learning may help educational institutions to serve
those least served –
nontraditional and special needs students, recognizing the need to overcome the
digital divide. Online learning redefines the educational institution, as
discussed in chapters 13 and 14, raising questions on what is an educational
institution?, who is a teacher?, what is a library?, and other issues. In
turn, online learning is being redefined, with the creation of hybrid courses,
web-enhanced courses, and virtual high schools and universities. Dr.
Maeroff concludes in chapter 15 with a discussion of the historically assumed
purposes of education and how they are being adjusted to the new realities of
the cyber era.
As an online instructor and a coordinator of an online Master of Science in
Educational Technology program at Eastern Connecticut State University, I
appreciate Dr. Maeroff’s
review of the issues and concerns about web-based learning. In a next edition
of this or similar texts, I would suggest, though, that online learning be
viewed in a wider social perspective. My students and I would disagree
that online learning occurs in a classroom of one. My colleagues who
teach online uniformly consider the focused conversations within the threaded
discussions in a course to be a major component of the program; usually valued
at between 20 – 30% of
the participants’
assessment. In a recent course evaluation, online participants in one of
my graduate courses, EDU 577: Educational Computing – Theory and Practice, commented that –
“… even though some people
miss "face-to-face" interaction, I actually think that online courses
are better suited for participation. Everybody has had a college class
dominated by three or four individuals who like to hear themselves talk.
Usually, the other students have plenty of opinions, too, but often refrain
from speaking due to exhaustion and because they want to get home before
sunrise.
Online discussions are more equitable, as everyone is required to respond...
without interruption, at her or his own convenience. And because threads are
written, students have a chance to reflect and revise before submission.” (comments of
an inservice teacher enrolled in online EDU 577: Educational Computing – Theory and Practice, Eastern
Connecticut State University, Sunday, June 22, 2003, 12:07pm)
Another participant agreed –
“Online discussions do
make it more equitable for the people who may feel intimidated to discuss idea
in the class. It is helpful to take time to reflect between responses and for
ideas more clearly.” (comments of a preservice teacher
enrolled in online EDU 577, Friday, June 27, 2003, 2:29pm)
A third responded -
“… we do have time to
think and complete our thoughts before we join the discussion.” (comments of
an inservice teacher enrolled in EDU 577, Friday, June 27, 2003 7:04pm)
This exchange lasted for over a week with participants
sharing their comments at a distance and over time. Although they were
alone with their workstations, the participants were shared in a classroom of
many.
I would also suggest that two models from educational history
might be useful to reconsider when analyzing the future of online learning and
teaching. Ivan Illich’s
Deschooling Society (1970) foreshadowed online learning’s discussion groups in the concept of
learning webs. Illich wrote
“What are needed are new
networks, readily available to the public and designed to spread equal
opportunity for learning and teaching.”
(Illich, I. (1971). Deschooling
Society. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, pages 78-79.)
The next edition of this text might continue to explore how online learning
fulfills these suggested forms of learning exchanges. As a society, we are
developing learners who are comfortable using instant messaging, participating
in online chats and discussion forums, and obtain and evaluating information
from the web. Online learning may be the context for these learning webs.
In summertime, it is easy to remember the influence of the Chataqua
movement on American thought. These gatherings of scholars and lay-people at
summer encampments for entertainment and enlightenment incubated American
philosophy and culture from its start in the 1870s. The Chataqua and elderhostel
movements provide learning webs for adults who have the resources and interests
to continue learning in attractive settings. Online learning may also
serve as post-modern Chataquas - a resource for those
who are unable to travel or for the times between voyages.
Online learning is not for all subjects or for all individuals, but it does
provide for a setting for discussions and learning at a distance and across
time. Although the individual is isolated before a computer screen, the
learning, when the social context is adequately addressed through threaded
discussions and email, is within a virtual community, a Chataqua
for the 21st century.
Read Dr. Maeroff’s
text for a strong foundation on the top and to prepare to witness the cyclone
of online learning as it grows and changes the landscape of education.
References
Illich, I. (1971). Deschooling
Society. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, pages
78-79.)
posted July 30, 2003
26) Wilson, S.M. (2003). California dreaming: Reforming mathematics
education. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. ISBN:0-300-09432-9
Professor Wilson offers a dynamic in-depth analysis of California’s systemic
reform of mathematics education during the latter part of the 20th century and
the subsequent counter-reform as an illustration of schools as “a great theater
in which we play out … conflicts in the culture.” Concerns about
curriculum, attempts at change through professional consensus, the development
of networks and organizations, public reactions and controversy, and counter-reforms
are shown to flow with cultural tides. Dr. Wilson introduces the reader
to the leaders of this reform movement, including curriculum specialist Marilyn
Burns, political leaders Eastin and Honig, and professional organizations – NCTM and the
California Mathematics Project – and to their opposition – parents, teachers,
and collegiate mathematicians within such organizations as Honest Open and
Logical Debate. She concludes with a call for civil and constructive
discourse, recognizing that the debate’s vehemence is “because of the children”
and that all concerned citizens should have a say in the debate, the
assumptions of standard-based reform clash with the realities of school, the
debate may represent disagreements over more than just mathematics, and research
for understanding complex societal controversies must be balanced.
posted on August 19, 2003
27) A
review of Perraton, H. & Lentell, H.,
editors (2004). Policy for open and distance
learning. London:
RoutledgeFalmer, 268 pages, ISBN 0-415-26307-7.
In
their introduction, the editors pose the question – “does [open and distance
learning] work, and if so what policies are needed to make it work
effectively?” (page 3). To answer this question
they consider two themes for this text – 1) the acceptance of “open and
distance learning and its new place at the world’s educational tables” and 2)
changes in the role of the state and its institutions which resulted in
students having to meet more of the costs, declining central control of
broadcasting, globalization, a new kind of competition between universities,
and “limitations of existing accrediting structures in protecting student
interest” (pages 4-5).
This
collection of essays from educators active in open and distance learning (ODL)
in Malaysia, South Africa, Hong Kong, Uzbekistan, Australia, India, and Britain
is structured into three sections – “inputs – in terms of learners, staff and
resources; processes – organizational structures, technologies, globalisation, and governance; outcomes – benefits set in
the context of costs.” The text concludes with a discussion on framing
ODL policy within national and international educational policy and
development.
Does
ODL work? Perraton notes that there are 120 million children in the world
still out of school and new technologies have only limited relevance to
children in the poorest schools. The radiophonic,
nongovernmental schools in Latin America did offer some success, demonstrating
that “the combination of radio, print, and supported group study could be
effective in offering a basic education to children and to adults” (page
11).
ODL
for secondary education has been more successful. The open school model
in Africa, Latin America, and Asia offers “junior- and sometimes
senior-secondary education to adolescents for whom there are no conventional
schools, for reasons of geography and economics” (page 12); these open schools
make use of broadcast television to reach rural populations. A variant of
this approach, the “correspondence centres, where
students came together to study centrally produced correspondence lessons under
the guidance of a monitor” (page 12-13) has had more success in developed than
in developing nations, due to the demands on student time and family and
governmental support. A third model, commercial correspondence schools,
has provided support for adults who had not gained the qualifications they
needed from the conventional school system.
“Open
and distance learning (ODL) is best know today for its work not at secondary but
at tertiary level” (page 14). Building on earlier models of adult
education in the United States, South Africa, and the Soviet Union, the Open
University in Britain commenced in 1969 “to attract students in large numbers
(initially 20,000 a year) and to attain parity of esteem with conventional
universities” (page 14). With over 30 nations currently supporting open
universities and conventional universities establishing open-learning programs,
recent technologies may stimulate the process of convergence of the
increasingly diverse techniques for the dissemination of knowledge within
tertiary education.
Perraton notes that “the use of open and distance learning for teacher
education probably outstrips all other vocational education” (page 16).
The need for other vocational education is rationalized for economic
development, access for isolated populations, cost effectiveness, and for
creating strategic collaborations with business. He concludes that
“in the early twenty-first century open and distance learning is, perhaps,
being reborn as virtual learning” (page 24).
In the section on inputs for ODL, Jenkins cautions that we need to know
more about students, their educational culture, needs for learning support,
differing learning styles, and motivations. Abdullah, in a chapter on
students in ODL in Asia, recommends that adult students become more involved in
decision making around their own education and need to become more
self-directed as learners. Teachers and administrators need to instill
self-esteem among students and should study success and failure factors.
Policy makers should recognize that ODL may not be as cost-effective as
envisioned, but still needs to be supported adequately. Panda counsels that
“distance educators have to be more active professionally, and should do
quality research and always be concerned with high standards of (distance)
education” (page 96). Perraton notes that the funding of ODL tends to be
complex, with resources coming from the government, individual fees, the
community, the private sector or non-governmental organizations, and grants
from foundations. Sustainability of ODL initiatives is often questioned
when such issues as variety of educational offerings, quality, cost, and retention
and completion rates are discussed.
In the section on process, Rumble and Latchem examine
organizational models for distance learning – single-mode institutions, either
face-to-face or distance education; dual-mode institutions – to teach both on-
and off-campus; distance-education consortia; corporate universities;
for-profit institutions; and virtual institutions. They predict that
these latter institutions, e-distance education, “may enable academics to
regain control over the teaching-learning process” through small course
modules, small course sizes, and control over the administrative processes
(page 134-135). Perraton and Moses discuss factors in choosing
technologies for education, including availability and convenience, local and
national constraints, curriculum, and costs. They suggest a slogan for
policy-makers – “consider the curriculum and count the costs” (page 150).
Farrell, Ryan, and Hope examine the driving and constraining forces behind the
policy agenda for information and communication
technologies (ICT), student support issues for e-learning, and quality
assurances. Robinson examines the issues of governance, accreditation,
and quality and cautions that “approaches which concentrate on the measurable
at the expense of educational worth and value are likely to be
counter-productive in the longer term” (page 204).
In the section on outputs, Raza discusses the
benefits for students, the labour force, employers
and society of ODL and concludes that “open and distance learning can be
successful in reading a range of student who have been marginalized for either
economic and geographical reasons” (page 221), that “ODL is more effective in
certain areas .. providing inservice training to
teachers, for instance” (page 221), and that “the preoccupation with efficiency
in education is often at the cost of effectiveness” (page 221).
Butcher and Roberts suggest that in the discussion of outputs, one should
differentiate between effectiveness and efficiency, actual costs and notional
estimates, and fixed and variable costs, direct, indirect, and overhead costs,
unit costs and cost centres, cost drivers, personnel
costs, and capital costs. They offer an international comparison of cost
per learners and comparative costs for ODL projects in South America, Asia, and
Africa and conclude that “their cost-efficiency and effectiveness depend
primarily on the number of student who can be recruited to each of their
courses and the quality of their teaching materials and student support
systems” (page 244).
Lentell concludes the text with an essay on framing policy for open and
distance learning. The critical issues in policy and planning for ODL
are:
Lentell
concludes that “the contribution of open and distance learning – access to
education and training and efficient use of scarce educational resources – will
be lost if fundamental policy and planning issues at international, national
and institutional levels are ignored” (page 258).
This text is highly recommended for students, faculty, and staff members on all
levels of education concerned about open and distance learning. As
e-learning and online learning and teaching become more pervasive, many of the
issues analyzed in this text would only become more relevant. This text
serves as a fine summative evaluation of ODL’s first fifty years or so.
It should be followed by a formative evaluation of online learning and teaching
in nations on the road to economic development and in those nations who are
struggling to retool their infrastructure at a time of aging populations and
declining public resources.
posted on August 20, 2004
28) Fisch, Shalom M.
(2004). Children’s learning from educational television:
The author
builds on a meta-analysis of educational television research to present a
capacity model to explain children’s learning. Research studies on
the impact of television viewing on children’s school readiness, literacy,
understanding of mathematics and problem solving, science and technology, and
civics and social studies are reviewed for their implications on television
production and on student motivation. The author also examines the
influence of specific television programs on prosocial
behavior and mediated viewing by children with parents and other adults.
The author’s Capacity Model attempts to “explain how this learning
occurs.” The model suggests that demands on the capacity for memory
and learning from television stems from “processing of narrative, processing of
educational content, and the distance between the two.” Learning will be
enhanced if viewers have knowledge of television conventions, prior knowledge
of the story and characters in the narrative and the educational content, have
sufficient verbal reasoning ability and short-term memory, are motivated to
learn, interested in the subject matter, and if there is an adult
commentary. The author concludes that educational television works and is
evolving with other media, providing new opportunities and new
challenges.
posted on August 20, 2004
29) Britton, Edward. Bringing technology education into
K-8 classrooms: a guide to curricular resources about the designed world, by
Edward Britton, Bo De Long-Cotty, and Toby Levenson. 302p bibl ISBN 1412914655 pbk, $34.95
This
well-organized textbook guides the reader to curricular resources for
technology education in K-8 classrooms.
Designed for curriculum specialists, professional and curriculum
developers, administrators, and teachers, authors use NASA vision of
technological literacy and education, “understanding the nature of technology,
understanding the relationships between technology and society, understanding
the process of designing, acquiring the abilities to carry our design
activities, and understanding and gaining key abilities in major types of
technologies …”, as their text's foundation.
The authors categorize technology curricula and then review 5 core
technology products, 8 cross-curricular products, 18 supplemental products, and
100+ informal and other resources. They
indicate how these curricula fulfill the 5 themes of the Standards for
Technological Literacy developed by the International Technology Education
Association – 1) nature of technology, 2) technology and society, 3) design, 4)
abilities for a technological world, and 5) designed world. They also discuss
methods to assess the quality of student activities, teacher support, curriculum
and student assessment, the instructional model implemented, and materials and
special preparations. The text concludes
with a compendium of web sites and other informal resources, including
activities, journals, newsletters, and research reviews.
Posted on
April 22, 2005
30) How
students learn: history, mathematics, and science in the classroom, ed. by
M. Suzanne Donovan and John D. Bransford. 615p index
ISBN 0309074339, $54.95
The
foundations of this text rest on a previous report on How People Learn, developed by the National Research Council
(1999).
Three principles for learning and teaching arose from this report –
1) engaging the learners’ prior understandings, 2) the essential role of factual
knowledge and conceptual frameworks in understanding, and 3) the importance of
self-monitoring. Learning environments
are seen through intersecting circles of learned-centered, knowledge-centered,
and assessment-centered lenses enclosed within a community-centered
perspective. Following this introductory
discussion, curriculum specialists examine how these learning principles might
be placed in practice for understanding and teaching history, developing whole-number
sense, teaching the rational-number system and functions, and science inquiry
and reasoning. The editors conclude by
synthesizing these chapters on history, mathematics, and science learning by
advising that educators should “draw on knowledge and experiences that students
commonly bring to the classroom but are generally not activated with regard to
the topic of study”, “provide opportunities for students to experience
discrepant events that allow them to come to terms with the shortcomings in
their everyday models,” and “provide students with narrative accounts of the
discovery of (targeted) knowledge or the development of (targeted) tools.”
Posted on
July 7, 2005
31)
Virtual schools: planning for success, ed. by Zane L. Berge and Tom Clark. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University,
246p bibl index afp ISBN 0807745715 pbk, $28.95.
Developed by
administrators of state initiatives for K-12 schools and virtual high schools,
educational technologists leading e-learning programs, and university
researchers, this text serves as a handbook for those interested in planning
for virtual schooling. The editors
provide the text’s framework by analyzing the benefits and limitations of
virtual schools, “any educational organization that offers K-12 courses through
Internet- or Web-based methods.” Other
practitioners and researchers examine issues of equity and access within
e-learning programs, review the evolution of course management systems in
virtual schools, examine the costs and funding options for online education,
present assessment strategies that should influence policy and practice
considerations, and provide the guiding principles for marketing K-12 virtual
efforts. Leaders of the virtual high
school programs in Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, Missouri, Illinois, and
South Dakota and of The Virtual High School, a national consortium of schools
offering online high school courses, provide lessons learned. The editors conclude that “… given a balance
of authority and responsibility for their own learning [within today’s virtual
school], most students can gain the skills and knowledge they need to succeed
in the new century.”
Posted on
September 2, 2005
32) Rethinking
mathematics: teaching social justice by the numbers, ed. by Eric Gutstein and Bob Peterson. 179p bibl index ISBN 0942961544
pbk, $16.95
This text is
an important addition to the Rethinking
Schools book series, whose informative website is located at http://www.rethinkingschools.org/
. The authors focus on the politics of
mathematics and the mathematics of politics, including the analysis of public
accessibility, sweatshop accounting, home buying while brown or black,
population density, HIV/AIDS ratios, multicultural math, misrepresentations on
maps, income distribution, food advertising, transnational capitalism, and
other social justice concerns. The
authors, a diverse group of mathematics educators in schools and universities
from throughout the United States, see mathematics as an “essential tool for
understanding and changing the world” and seek to connect “math with students’
cultural and community histories.” They
call for viewing mathematics broadly across the curriculum, for the development
of criticalmathematical literacy that includes the understanding
of the politics of knowledge, and for learning to analyze mathematized
situations, the use of math linked to an attempt to secure control of
property. The text concludes with the
listing of resources for rethinking mathematics, including websites, math
curriculum and pedagogy guides, math books with theoretical and academic
perspectives, children’s books, and source books, posters, maps and additional
resources useful for mathematics teaching.
Posted on
November 8, 2005
33) Watson, Anne. Mathematics
as a constructive activity by Anne Watson and John Mason. 228p bibl
indexes afp ISBN 0805843434.
The authors,
faculty members at Oxford and the Open University in the UK, describe this text
as being “about the teaching strategy of asking learners to construct their own
examples of mathematical objects.” They
“show that not only can all learners construct mathematical objects, but the
act of construction can engage learners who might otherwise be passive and
uninterested.” The learner-generated example spaces discussed range across
grade levels, continents, and functions – for example, as start-up, reference,
model, and counterexamples. The authors
define example space as a spatial metaphor or as “a toolshed
containing a variety of tools – examples that can be used to illustrate or
describe or as raw material.” The
authors examine the pedagogy of structuring example spaces,
identify strategies for prompting and using learner-generated example spaces,
and overview mathematics as a constructive activity. They stress that exemplification and
perceptions of generality are individual and conclude with a list of questions
on the nature of constructing tasks. The useful appendices include a discussion
of the historical roots of using mathematical examples for teaching and
learning and some additional ideas on some of the key tasks discussed in the
text.
Posted on
February 17, 2006
34)
Virtual decisions: digital simulations for teaching reasoning in the social
sciences and humanities, ed. by Steve Cohen et al. 286p bibl indexes afp ISBN 0805849947, $79.95
The goal of
this volume is “to provide a foundation for understanding the uses of digital
role-play decision simulations in curricula for the social and behavioral
sciences.” Rehberger
discusses strategies for teaching with digital role-play simulations, while
Cohen provides a foundation for understanding social decision-making. McGraw and Williams review PsychExperiments, a web-based resource for enhancing
science training. Portney,
Cohen, Goldman, and Simpson explain how Crime and Punishment simulations
examine criminal sentencing decisions.
Cavalier reviews simulations in ethics and conflict resolution. Miller and Read analyze the effectiveness of interactive video
simulations in reducing risky sexual
behavior. Asal
examines the applications of International Communications and Negotiation
Simulations for developing global decision-making skills. O’Lonney and Dodd
describe the uses of
Disaster Control, an emergency management simulation, across the
curriculum. Blascovich
and Bailenson provide a look into the future of
immersive virtual environment technology for digital decision making. Thorsen concludes
with a review of current and future trends and notes that the “greatest
challenge that the educational community faces is the development of the
resources that are necessary to create and implement good virtual reality
simulations that are available to many students.”
Posted on
March 22, 2006
35)
Spring, Joel. Pedagogies of globalization: the rise of the educational security
state. 308p bibl indexes afp ISBN 0805855564.
In this text, Professor
Spring contrasts schools in an educational security state with progressive
education. “In an educational security state, the government attempts to
mold and control the learning of children and youth for economic and military
purposes”(p. 3). Progressive education serves as
the major dissenting traditions to schooling that serves industry and the
nation state. This tension is discussed within the parallelism of
educational security states in the Soviet Union and the United States after
World War II. In historical studies of the education and
philosophies of John Dewey, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, Paulo Friere, and Jose
Mariategui, the global flow of progressive education is illustrated within the
context of the growth of formal schooling. Wars of liberation and
cultural revolutions are also shown to often lead to schooling for the
educational security state in the Middle East, India, Africa, Indonesia, and
Korea. He concludes that the industrial-consumer paradigm for schooling and
English as the global language has triumphed over education that searches for
human happiness, is environmentally sensitive, empowers people as actors in the
reconstruction of society, and uses the traditional knowledge of indigenous
people.
Posted on May 12, 2006
This
text responds to a compound question - what do teachers and district leaders,
respectively, need to know, believe, and do in order to teach for meaningful
learning using technology (MLT) and support teaching for MLT? Ashburn defines MLT
as learning characterized by intentionality, content centrality, authentic
work, active inquiry, construction of mental models, and collaborative
work. Wiske’s framework organizes curriculum around generative topics,
defines and publishes explicit understanding goals, engages learners in a
varied set of performances of understanding, and conducts ongoing assessment.
Linn describes the incorporation of a Web-based Inquiry Science Environment
(WISE) to strengthen science understanding. Songer addresses the barriers
to inquiry pedagogy in urban classrooms through the use of curriculum-focused
professional development. Bain counsels that learners must be
prepared with instructional tools to deepen their understanding of social
studies. Ashburn et.al. use
the metaphor of mapping the learning terrain to explore collaborative
inquiry. McCrory suggests that MLT creates different modes of teaching
and learning. Zhao et.al. add
that professional development for MLT is most effective when it draws on teachers’
own creativity, on the school resources, and is delivered at the school site.
Posted on May 31, 2006
37) Online professional development for
teachers: emerging models and methods, ed. by Chris Dede. 296p
index ISBN 1891792741, $59.95; ISBN 1891792733 pbk, $29.95
Arising
from a Harvard Graduate School of Education conference, this text examines the
state of online teacher professional development (oTPD). Whitehouse et.al. overview the
research findings on measuring effectiveness, enablers of improvement, content
and skills taught, pedagogical approaches, and research approaches for studying
TPD. Wiske et.al. examine
the significant advantages of networked technologies to negotiate individual
and institutional accommodations. Other authors describe the
effectiveness of EdTech Leaders Online, the PBS TeacherLine
and Concord Consortium’s Seeing Math project, eMentoring for Student Success
project, the Quest Atlantis Project, the Learning to Teach with Technology
Studio, WGBH’s Teachers Domain digital library, and TPD developed by TERC
and Lesley University, the American Museum of Natural History, and the
Milwaukee Public Schools to create powerful tools within collaborative
environments for both novice and veteran teachers. Ketelhut et.al. analyze the 4 core
tensions for TPD incremental learning
versus design for transformation, tensions among stakeholders agendas,
customization versus generalization, and research versus program evaluation and
conclude that “the primary contribution of computers and telecommunications is
not to automate what people do, but instead to empower teachers in their own
learning and in helping students learns.
posted on June 21, 2006
38) Holmes, Bryn. E-learning: concepts and practice, by
Bryn Holmes and John Gardner. London: Sage Publications. 186p bibl index ISBN
1412911109, $110.00; ISBN 1412911117 pbk, $34.95
Integrating
foundational educational theory with exemplary international practices, the
authors describe the current status of e-learning and outline future trends.
Starting with the definition of e-learning as “online access to learning
resources, anywhere and anytime”, the authors review its capabilities for
personalized access to community knowledge and tools for learning and its
benefits and challenges. They continue
with a history of the development of the internet and computer uses in
education, including links to key events in the revolution that technology and
educators have wroth. Building on the
theoretical foundations of e-learning, the authors argue for a further step –
the development of communal constructivism – “an approach to learning in which
students construct their own knowledge as a result of their experiences and
interactions with others and are afforded the opportunity to contribute this knowledge
to an communal knowledge base for the benefit of existing and new
learners.” They conclude with a
discussion of e-learning instructional design, considerations on the uses of
powerful tools for learning, learning emancipation through greater accessibility,
and the potential of e-learning as a change catalyst for endless development of
education, learners, and educators.
Posted on
September 29, 2006
39) Type II uses of technology in education:
projects, case studies, and software applications, by Cleborne D. Maddux,
and D. LaMont Johnson. 207p bibl index afp ISBN
0789032554, $34.95; ISBN 0789032562 pbk, $17.95
Type
II applications of technology in education “make use and better ways of
teaching available, ways not possible without the use of the information
technology.” This text offers case studies in type II
applications, including the use of technology to enhance science inquiry in an
outdoor classroom, the applications of personal educational tools (PETs) for
type II learning, and the uses of interactive computer hypertext in art
education. Chapters are also developed by international scholars from the
United States, Canada, Israel, and the United Kingdom which discuss the
transformation of teaching and learning through the use of information and
communication technology (ICT), a typology of four types of ICT integration in
schools, and the uses of learning objects, digital entities that assist student
learning. This collection of articles also includes studies of future teachers’
classroom application of technology, inservice professional development using
e-learning, and the uses of laptops and electronic discussion groups to enhance
learning. The text concludes with a quote from Papert (1996) - "digital
media … could allow every individual to fine personal paths to learning. …In
the learning environment of the future, every learner will be ‘special’”.
posted on January 23, 2007
40) EduHound: Everything for Education K-12
http://www.eduhound.com/ is a very
resourceful website for students, teachers, and parents, and for anyone
interested in an increasing comprehensive menu of educational resources.
EduHound.com’s president, Judith Rajala, a former K-12 educator, has been
mining the Internet for over 8 years for classroom resources and tools to
enhance learning. The website includes links to resources for most of the
subjects taught in K-12 schools and also provides links to community resources
- museums, grants and funding, and professional websites for teachers –
professional associations, publications, governmental agencies, and curriculum
standards. The site also links to a directory of schools and classrooms that
have active web presences. There is a collection of free clipart,
worksheets, and other classroom design resources, an online program that allows
teachers to develop webpages on specific topics, and a Spanish version with international resources. Educators may sign
up for weekly email from EduHound.com which spotlight sites and seasonal online
resources. A link to the T.H.E. Journal, an online monthly magazine which
highlights technological horizons in education, provides other sponsors’ information.
The site also encourages visitors to submit links to resources they have found
useful.
posted on March 1, 2007
41)
Information literacy collaborations that work: , ed. by Trudi E. Jacobson and Thomas
P. Mackey. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., 264p bibl index afp ISBN 1555705790 pbk, $85.00
This
text focuses on the collaborations of university librarians and faculty members
whose goals are to “prepare students to become information literate.”
Diverse case studies are collected into three sections – collaborations in
undergraduate and graduate education, in the disciplines of the humanities,
social sciences, and sciences, and in leading-edge technology
applications. Librarian-faculty-student collaborations at UC Berkeley in
general chemistry and sociology courses, first-year composition courses at York
College of Pennsylvania and at Coastal Carolina University, Kansas State
University’s English literature courses, Chicano and Latino Studies courses at
California State University, Long Beach, educational research courses at
Dickinson College and at Ursuline College, University of West Georgia’s
political science curriculum, Lock Haven’s biology courses, Moravian College’s
social impact of science courses, University of Vermont’s environmental studies
courses, and Lafayette College’s multicultural competence seminars benefit from
web-guides, the development of web-based research portfolios, student-centered
poster sessions, professional development, and point-of-need assistance to
strengthen student preparation for research. Collaborators at William
Patterson University of New Jersey videotape role play assignments and at the
University of Albany explore web logs to expand information literacy and
critical thinking among students, faculty, and librarians.
posted on April 19, 2007
42) Taffe, Susan Watts. Integrating literacy and technology: effective practice for grades K-6, by Susan Watts Taffe and Carolyn B. Gwinn. 146p bibl index afp ISBN 1593854536, $42.00; ISBN 1593854528 pbk, $19.95
Within the
“Tools for Teaching Literacy” series, the authors’ goals are to provide support
on literacy-technology integration for grades K-6 to teacher study groups,
instructional methods classes, teacher mentors of new teachers, and elementary
school professional development. They
illustrate instructional change through the examples of the progress of six
teachers in instructional planning and technology applications. Specific characteristics of learning
environments conducive to literacy-technology integration include “the
integration of conventional and new literacies, critical thinking, promoting
learning to learn, integrating literacy instruction within content-area
instruction, attention to social interaction and collaboration, differentiation
of instruction, equity of access to technology, emphasis of the classroom as a
learning community, multifaceted preparation for instruction coupled with
flexibility and responsiveness, preservation of fundamental features of
exemplary print-based literacy instruction.”
The instructional cycle – planning, implementing, assessing, and
assessing and reflecting – is enhanced by the integration of website reviews, WebQuests – online learning activities, Internet
appropriate use policies, and familiarity with school district, state, and
national standards for reading/language arts.
The text concludes with a glossary of technology terms and
literacy-technology integration tools, including websites, reflection forms,
parent surveys, and lesson observation guides.
Posted on May
30, 2007
43)
Solomon, Gwen and Schrum,
Lynne (2007). Web 2.0: new tools, new schools. Eugene, Oregon:
International Society for Technology in Education. ISBN: 978-1-56484-234-3.
Two international leaders in technology applications for learning write of the
next generation of internet resources, web 2.0, and of the “free new tools such
as blogs, wikis, photo and video sharing, and social networking" that are
“changing how people, including our students, interact with the
world.” These 21st century students are digital natives
who make use of the web as a platform for their social development, data
storage, and learning. Their learning styles demand a revision of Bloom’s
taxomony of cognitive processes to remembering,
understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating. The authors overview new tools – such as podcasts, electronic
portfolios, mapping software, aggregators, online tutorials, internet
telephony, and immersive environments – and their uses for enhancing classroom
curriculum, professional development, and school leadership. The text
also includes discussion on online safety and security and on how these new
tools might address systemic issues such as second language learning,
accommodations for students with special needs, the digital divide, and
assessment. The appendices contain a web timeline, a glossary of
web 2.0 tools, a description of a day learning on web
2.0, text references, and the ISTE technology standards.
Posted on
January 16, 2008
44) Braun, Linda W. (2007).
Listen up!: podcasting for schools and
libraries.
In
this how-to text, the author defines podcasts as “regularly produced audio and
video files that are available for subscription and that can automatically be
downloaded to a computer and/or portable audio and video device.” She lists ten reasons why podcasting is an
appropriate option for libraries and schools, including 1) getting information
about programs and services out to the community, 2) demonstrate positive uses
of technology, 3) use the technology to teach technology, 4) bring outside
perspectives into the community, 5) show the library or school as a venue for
learning, recreation, and entertainment, 6) let listeners know about new things
available in the broader world, 7) give the community a chance to know
teachers, librarians, and administrators as individuals, 8) help people make
connections, 9) update staff on what’s happening in the institution, and 10) provide
multiple formats for learning. The
author provides an annotated list of real life examples of useful podcasts, a
guide to developing their content and the technology necessary, strategies on
getting the word out about one’s podcasts, a planning guide for podcasting, a
list of podcasting tools, a glossary, and resource list.
Posted on
January 28, 2008
45) Harrison, A.G. and Coll, R.K.
(2008). Using
analogies in middle and secondary classrooms: The FAR Guide - an
interesting way to teach with analogies. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. ISBN
978141291331
The
Focus-Action-Reflection (FAR) Guide is used to incorporate analogies in middle
and secondary science classrooms. The
authors, Australian science educators, explain that focus requires an understanding of the concept – whether is it difficult, unfamiliar, or abstract, an
understanding of the students’ prior ideas about the concept, and whether the
students would be familiar with the analog; that action requires discussing how the analog is similar or different
from the concept; and that reflection analyzes
whether the analogy was clear, useful, or confusing, whether it achieved the
planned outcomes, and what changes would be necessary if used again. The authors explain that scientists use
analogies regularly in their research and writing, noting that “Stephen Hawking
(1988) used 74 everyday analogies in A
Brief History of Time.” Analogies
such as a supermarket for the biological classification system, a school dance
for chemical equilibrium, the dominoes and books analogy for conduction of heat
in physics, modeling dryland salinity in earth
science, and dancing with black holes in space science are discussed for their
individual effectiveness in stimulating learning, with greater efficacy seen
from multiple analogies to explain a given concept.
Posted
on March 30, 2008