Choosing Educational Software

First I want to say thanks for the web site to look at some educational software for elementary students. I really appreciated it. Anyways, this article was more for parents to find software for their children at home, but I found it helpful for me because it point out some good thoughts to keep in mind when looking for software. It is written with the point of informing parents and others how to go about getting good educational software. Some of the points that it makes is that age and level of software most be taken in to consideration fro developers and people who buy the software. There were to big points I found interesting when reading this article. These points were people can find software to buy and use. The two places the article said to find good software is the NEA catalog of educational software and stores were you can try out the software. I wasn't even aware that there were stores that you could buy software and try it out before you buy it. In general this was a great article to read to get some thoughts and concerns about software to use in my class. I wonder if there are any places around here in Gainesville. He is the link to the article: www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue52/choosing_educational_software.php

"Making History" Computer simulation

This article I read was about a company that has software called making history. The software is a simulation type program in which students play a game that uses actual events in history. In this case it is World War II. As a single player or multi player game the students take control of one of ten nations and have to compete against other nations and leaders while making economic, military, and policy issues. Like any other simulation game there is always an reaction for any action made. The company claims that this is a constructivist learning environment, which student use a higher-order cognitive skills to show leadership and critical thinking.
Some of the positive things about the game that educators can and materials to the database that they believe was left out and the program can be used to generate reports and track student progress. You can easily see this, because it encourages students to work out a nations problem on their own and have conflict resolutions that would differ from and even would have had better outcomes if history would have played out their way. My concern is that I worry about how much education knowledge is being learned. Yes it is an actual event with real countries, but once started the player will change the outcome and after a half hour it seems to me that the educational factor would be gone and it would just be a game. I feel that, without out actually testing it, that it would make a great fun game to use if students have time to spare but it should not be considered as a teaching tool for social studies. Maybe I'm too sceptical and my thoughts are wrong though.

Here is the link to the article: www.eschoollnews.com/news/PFshowstory.cfm?ArticleID=5862

Grade Level Software

Since my interest of study includes finding software to use in the classroom, I have been look at a lot of web sites that deal with software and selling software. This is difficult because the web site looks good and the product looks good, but how it runs may be a different story all together. From the readings in this class we know that there is such technology and software out there that really is a waste of money and time. This is what made finding this web page I found for this blog so nice. This page was a teachers web page that describe what the teacher doest in his computer lab with software. His opinion as a teacher makes it easier for me to decide if the software or activities are good. Since he is not a business trying to sell me a product and has experience working with the technology and software I can take his actions more seriously.
This man takes his computer lab time and breaks it down for students and parents so that what is happening in his class is know and easily accessible. He has each grade working on different uses of technology throughout kindergarten to fifth grade. For me, even though it was short and I would have like more ideas, his use of Oregon Trial and Where in the USA is Carmen SanDiego, tell me that these programs would be good programs to look into. It is not a sure thing that they will be good programs, but since a computer lab teacher is using them there is a good chance that they are worth while programs.
I know that you guys don't work in elementary schools, but if you know of any software programs I should check out for my fifth grade class, please let me know.

Her is the link: www.robertselementary.org/specialists/computer.html

The Media Equation

Correct me if I'm wrong, but my take on the reading this week is that the power of suggestion is very strong in media. Because of this people in reality may believe a suggestion or partial of a person or company. This lead me to two thoughts.
One is that as a was reading this I kept thinking of the Matrix movies. One guy has to learn that reality was not reality at all and that he could bend the truths if he believed in it. Though this is probably not the greatest example the movie suggest that perception can be changed by see and believing. Since this is a movie and we know that it is not reality we are aware that we can't stop object and slow down time, but as we read in the article it is because we are exposed to it. Children may watch these movies and believe that they can fly or run up walls, when in reality they can't. Movies are just one example of media that leaves the viewer with the belief of an alternate reality. Another example is commercials. I get a big laugh still when I see a Burger King commercial and the burger is so thick and put together well, when in reality to order one of these burgers only to get this squished thing that is falling apart. Another one is commercial about cleaners. You see that it works so well on television only to get it home and find out it doesn't work as well as lead to believe.
My second thought that because we know this and have lived with it we should be able to separate truth from "suggestion," but we still fall into the media trap. My thought then is our belief of suggestions an optimistic hope that life is easy and happy go lucky and everything is good or is it like the reading implies, where our brain's are to far behind media. Either way media will be present always so we need to learn to work with media and use it to help our understanding or the "real" world.
This needs to be kept in mind for me as I explore software to use in my fifth grade class. I will need to examine the software and make sure that it encourages the children and keeps them happy, which means the software I find and use must have different levels of difficulty to make sure that the user doesn't get frustrated and not want to use it. Also I need to make sure that the pictures and images represent the real world and not fictitious one.

Reference

Reeves, Byron, and Clifford Nass. 1996. “Ch 1, The Media Equation,” pp. 3-18 in The Media Equation. Cambridge University Press.

Effectiveness of Software

This article form the Washington Post was based on studies that said that software has little effect on students. Paley starts out by saying that the 2 billion dollar a year industry of making software has no significant impact on student performance (2007). I thought that this statement was weird because as a teacher I have see software get students more involved and even help them better understand the knowledge that I was trying to instill upon them. From there the article went on to basically put down software and the way that schools use the software. Paley stated that low preforming schools use this technology as an easy means to boost students test scores (2007). I believe this is true in some ways. Schools and teachers are under a tight watch with this No Child Left Behind program and they need to find a way to get the students to understand the information they need to understand, even if that means drill, drill, and more drill. Even with that I do agree that we as educators need to find the most effective way to use software in the classroom, but by no means should it be thought of as having no effect on learning. We all know that all students learn at a different pace and in different ways, technology and software give us one more way to present the curriculum and should not be overlooked.

Reference

Paley, A. 2007. "Educational software has little effect, finds study."
April 5, 2007 retrieved April 10, 2007, from:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2003652152&zsection_id=2002107549&slug=educate05&date=20070405

Making Good Educational Software

This article was an interview with an editor of Microsoft's Encarta Encyclopedia, Latha Menon. What I like about this article was that the interview was set up as Latha answers questions from people which mostly were teachers. As the article goes on Latha is ask some background information about how she got into Microsoft and editing software, but he meet of the article stressed the concerns with software in the educational setting. Throughout the article Latha stated that software has tremendous potential as a leaning tool, and we have to maximise the potential of it (1999). Latha also challenges us to think about the range of media that is out there to deliver learning outcomes to students, because she believes that you can waste media if you don't use it right (1999).
I liked that this article made me feel the technology is something that is a concern and an area of interest world wide. Due to this it is not something that we should overlook and hope that it never becomes an issue for us educators. Latha states, even in a village with one t.v., there is a huge potential for educational purposes (1999). That t.v. can display images, places, events, and ideas all of which we can maximise us a learning tool. I never really thought about it this way, but Latha has a point. Even if I don't have more than three computers in my class at least I have some and with them I have the opportunity to expose students to learning through technology and software. Thus giving them another way to support the knowledge I taught them and open them up to a world of more idea and learning.

For the whole interview click below:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/features/467124.stm

Reference
BBC News (1999). "What Makes Good Educational Software". retrieved from,http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/features/467124.stm

Radom Discussion

This is way off topic and may not pertain to high school teachers or college professors, but I thought it might be something to bring up even though it doesn't involve technology. Last night some friends and I were discussing the idea of requesting teachers and whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. For the most part schools do take request into consideration when placing students, but how far should schools go? Should one teacher get a whole class of requested students. Generally, from my past experiences, parents that request their students a teacher are parents that you get support from and the students have less behavior issues. The argument is that it is not fair for the other teachers if they get all the students in their class that have less supportive parents, this group would tend to have most of the lower students in it because it is believed that parents being involved with their students helps them grow. The case for the requests (my opinion) is that it is a reward for those teachers that take extra care in their students, strive to be the best and get a positive reputation, and over just go the extra mile to make teachers look professional. To many times I look around and see teachers mocking their students, talking about how much they dislike their job, or just acting like their job is not important. Teachers that work hard should get the benefits of having supportive parents in their class. If other teachers want to complain, which they do (at least in my case), they should work harder.
I know that this isn't a black and white area when it comes to teachers, but in my three years of experience I have seen this subject come up many times between teachers, administrators, and friends. What do you think?