Present Technology

One of the most common challenges to assessing the usefulness of educational technology is coming to terms with how different forms of social interaction affect learning. In a recent survey of brain development in babies of bilingual households, University of Washington researchers discovered that not only did early exposure to multiple languages stimulate brain development in the frontal and prefrontal areas of infant brains, but acquisition of languages also inherently depended on the the language being spoken between members of the household. The result of this stimulation was a mapping of brain connectivity that improved problem-solving skills. According to a recent New York Times article "This special mapping that babies seem to do with language happens in a social setting,” . . . “they need to be face to face, interacting with other people. The brain is turned on in a unique way.”

The University of Washington had already issued an earlier report that infant-directed television programing claiming to be "educational" was misleading, and the researchers and impacted companies have remained entangled in legal disputes since. Now, the American Academy of Pediatrics has followed up by definitively reporting that setting infants in front of "educational" programing or any other screen-based educational environment will not yield any learning until the infant is at least two years old. Also clear is that exposure to technologies such as television will “have potentially negative effects and no known positive effects for children younger than 2 years”according to the AAP study. It is believed that this is partially due to television disrupting a child's play, affecting crucial problem-solving and critical thinking development because it most likely acts from a distraction.

Comparing infant brains to graduate-level adult brains may be inappropriate (or perhaps not) but the results of this study do prove that human brains learn differently according to the method of content distribution - as the meta-engine of thought and education, the brain is making distinctions as to what is doing the teaching. Therefore, we know that how (or from what source) one attempts to learn can be as important as what one is attempting to learn. However, without further study on adult brains, we are left with little more to conclude, yet, than that there is a necessity to consider the different types of teaching (e.g. spatially oriented vs. online) are of as equal importance to learning as anything else, and therefore, different methods cannot be presumed to be equally effective.

Managing Assignments in Sakai

One of the more frequently asked questions related to Sakai use is how to distribute assignments. This is a somewhat difficult question to answer, particularly because how one wishes to execute assignments depends upon teaching style. But after several conversations with faculty, I have discerned a pattern emerging that may help many organize the way they collect grades. There are three major forms through the left-column tools. There are others, but these three represent the fundamental principles of grading within Sakai. These tools are Drop Box, Assignments, and Forums. Additionally, to use the full functionality of these assignment options, it is best to employ the Gradebook tool as well.[1]

**Notice the star highlighting recent changes.

Drop Box represents a location for larger-scale projects and files in which students have access to their own private folder wherein they can drop files up to 10MB in size. Obviously, this is still a limited file size and will likely discourage most PowerPoint or video files.[2] However, for large paper projects, the drop box is a relatively basic but solid option requiring little prep time. Items such as word docs that the student uploads to the folder can be downloaded by the instructor, graded, and then re-uploaded to the student's drop box after graded. Additionally, a gradebook item can be created where the grade for the assignment is recorded.

An alternative to this process, and the most versatile of the assignment options, is the Assignments tool. On the assignments tool page, click the “Add” link at the top of the page to add a new assignment, and instructions can be typed into the provided text box or by attaching a document. By checking that the assignment is to be graded, a new item will be automatically added to the gradebook. You may also choose for student submissions to be returned as attachments or written into the provided text box, or both. Clicking on the “grade” link under each student submission will direct you to a page where you can review either the student’s submitted text, or download the student's attached document. Upon grading, you have the option to either make general comments on the submission in the provided text box (excellent for shorter reflection assignments), or make changes to the document with comments to reattach and return. Grades that are entered upon review of this student work are automatically updated in the gradebook. Additionally, assignments created through this tool allow for the automatic generation of an announcement (if so chosen) and/or email notification and the due date will be added to calendar of all participants in the class.

For even less complex responses, such as participation related to class discussion or brief reading reflections, Discussion items can also be attached to gradebook items. To make a forum topic graded, either click on the “edit” link of the “general discussion” topic (or create a new topic) and select the respective gradebook item from the list at the bottom of the page with which to associate student posts. Once you have created this topic, you must then create a thread to which students will reply. Unless you create the discussion thread, students will be creating their own discussion thread – under which others can only post new items, and not directly reply.

Things to remember: For items to be associated with the gradebook, they must be given a point-based grade (i.e. letter grades cannot be associated with items outside of the gradebook feature). If you intend to create assignments for the gradebook outside of the “assignments” tool, it is important to create these items in the gradebook well in advance. It often takes a while for these items to update, and therefore be included in the drop-down list which selecting gradebook associations for discussion posts or other references.

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[1] To add any of these tools to your class site click Site Info -> Edit Tools ->select the check box for the tools you wish to add, and then confirm thisaddition at the bottom of the page. You will then need to finalize yourselection, and done.

[2] An alternative is to print powerpoints as pdfs and upload the file in a pdf version.

Navigating Our Cloud(y) Future

by Justin Lipscomb

            As MTSO realizes its technological blueprints, the school has a fundamental need to keep abreast of trends in educational technology as they develop. Many of you have been involved in technological discussions in which the comment is made “the findings are unclear” as concerns a wide range of crucial information about student response, educational benefit, and potentially detrimental effects of tech trends. To find our way through this labyrinthine condition and set down some basic guidelines in our own assessment of technology’s role for this school, I have been researching what materials I can find to synthesize at least a basic set of principles by which we may judge future advances.

But before we trek our way through the information, I want to offer explicit guidelines as we begin our approach. Resources for this research must meet two, very basic criteria before consideration:

1) Relevant releases concerning technology cannot be sponsored by tech-related donors. I am reminded of a recent white paper I read about the difficulties of finding adequate storage solutions for classroom projects. Findings showed that cloud-based file sharing was increasingly safe, popular, and convenient in that they offset the needs of IT departments to pay for more storage and security. The study was, of course, sponsored by YouSendIt, an online file sharing company that offered “freemium” services (basic services are free, advanced services come at a cost). There was an obvious vested interest in the results of the study, rendering their determinations suspect beyond the services offered.

2) Sources must be vetted for gadget-crazed enthusiasm. Because a product fulfills a need in certain sectors, it does not prove that product’s ability to foster transformational learning in this setting, and according to our statement of vision and purpose. We have demonstrated an institutional commitment to the use of technology that closes gaps in distance, as opposed to creating or expanding them, and this, I believe, is partially due to our awareness in the ways in which the space where learning occurs has a powerful effect. Therefore, we hold in tension the benefits of technology with the potential harm in disregarding the power of meeting in the flesh. And this warrants considerable prudence in not becoming overexcited with new products without attention to our educational philosophy.