I am an American Idol contestant! There is nothing like sharing a name with a famous person to obscure the common person's identity. In my search I could not find a single link in the first 10 pages that relate to me. Even Pipl had issues and could only find my myspace page, which has been set to private for a very long time. I set both my Myspace and Facebook profiles to as extreme privacy as possible. While my prospects on becoming a teacher were a factor in this decision it was not my primary reason.
The link to my Myspace page did betray my alias. This is a very uncommon alias, 6 random letters I used when making my first email account when yahoo mail went free a long time ago. The first page of a search on google links to my personal site, several of my developer sites, as well as accounts I have on other websites. It is a long standing identity. My personal blog dates back to 2003, and my alias goes even further. There is content and associations that I do not mind being public but I do not want parents or students to see. I would much rather delete my Myspace profile than to plow through all the possible places my alias turns up.
It is a sad reality that teachers are held to such standards. If United States Senators can do worse and keep their jobs why can't teachers? Teaching is a profession where everyone is your supervisor and anyone can get you fired. Not just in the work place but outside and in the home.
One important factor that many people do not realize is that freedom of speech is not freedom from judgment. Yet the judgment should not result in loss of employment unless the statement is dangerous to students or school. Danger is a subjective view though.
What baffles me is that so many people do not realize that the Internet is not private. Why would someone post a profile decorated with blood and cuts and not realize that the whole world can see it. It is an exercise I would love to do with students some time where I find out as much about them from their own social networking sites before the first day of class.
Protecting myself will be a two pronged approach. Myspace profile will get the nuke. Everyone knows Facebook is the current king so I have no need for Myspace. The next step is to iterate through six years of blog posts and archiving the more incriminating personal posts. I also don't plan on doing any porn.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Friday, October 23, 2009
Digital Natives - A work in progress
In fourth grade (1994ish) I took a Saturday Academy class on the Internet. Webcrawler was the king of the search engines. A search for Legos only returned a few thousand hits. My family bought our first computer in 1995 and we signed up for the Internet with AOL in 1996. From that point on I have been riding the crest of the wave of technological innovation and obsolescence. I may not be a true native in that I remember a time before having a computer, but I have been here for a very long time.
I have been a student in classrooms with technology in grade school. In the primary grades the computer lab was a set of Apple IIes tucked away in the backroom of the library before the school modernized its labs. The teachers were not well prepared to utilize technology in the learning process. My only memories in the lab involved traveling to Oregon in a covered wagon. Many lives were lost. Other games, such as the Amazon Trail, were so simple to me I was like the four year old child where the learning games "were light years below [my] level, to [my] total frustration and rage." (Prensky, 2005)
The only real use of technology beyond research came into play my senior year of highschool in a college English class. We used Powerpoint to present a controversial topic. It was an excellent preview for my university experience. Not only were they used in almost every lecture, but it became an unspoken requirement that any student presentation must be accompanied by Powerpoint. In both cases the use of Powerpoint slides either enhanced an excellent lecture, especially when the slides could be printed out beforehand for improving note taking, or it amplified the terribleness of a presentation.
One of my university courses was developing web map applications using Google Maps and other technologies. I was a teacher aid for an undergraduate class on healthy communities and was able to teach the students how to develop their own maps for the neighborhood they were investigating with Google Earth*. The rest of the class was discussions on the reading. The class review showed that many students considered that single activity to be the most useful, and best, lesson in the class. It was like the student's professors reading from the textbook (Prensky, Digital Natives Digital Immigrants) in that the students were simply told what to think about the readings.
To be honest the assigned readings and videos did not change my mind about the subject. I am there with them. Prensky used a game to develop training for a CAD application. Let us investigate what is involved with creating a video game as the curriculum. With my current excitement for the upcoming game Dragon Age we will use Role Playing games as an example. Artists are not only needed to create the visual content, but they also need to be able to present information clearly (art and presentation skills) as well as background music and sound effects (more art). A world needs to exist for the story to take place in and it needs to make sense (science and social studies). Let us not forget the story the hero or heroine takes (English and psychology). The game itself needs to be programmed and balanced to make the experience fun as well (lots and lots of math and logic). It is the ultimate lesson plan integrating all the core subject areas. There are so many free or inexpensive tools out there to make it happen.
Technology is not the magic silver bullet these authors make it out to be. Freshman at Portland State University are required to make a web portfolio of their work for their end of year project. Undergraduate teacher assistants are responsible for teaching how to create web pages. The majority of these undergraduate educators are technology phobic and never became comfortable with the skills themselves, much less teaching it. Despite the similar age to myself they are digital immigrants.
Using technology to create and communicate can be amazing. Yet while people may be comfortable using an iPod, making a webpage is a frightening and difficult experience. Giving students the option to work in groups was the best discovery I ever made. Those comfortable with what they were doing could go solo without feeling dragged down. These are the natives who can parallel process and random access. (Prensky, Digital Natives Digital Immigrants) These immigrants, or naive individuals, still prefer content delivered in a legacy fashion individually. As a group they often operate as a digital native enabling me to teach to the natives without cramping the old fashioned style. It can work, and students are proud of their work when they can actually create a product that is meaningful for them.
* I promise I am not paid by or an employee of Google.
I have been a student in classrooms with technology in grade school. In the primary grades the computer lab was a set of Apple IIes tucked away in the backroom of the library before the school modernized its labs. The teachers were not well prepared to utilize technology in the learning process. My only memories in the lab involved traveling to Oregon in a covered wagon. Many lives were lost. Other games, such as the Amazon Trail, were so simple to me I was like the four year old child where the learning games "were light years below [my] level, to [my] total frustration and rage." (Prensky, 2005)
The only real use of technology beyond research came into play my senior year of highschool in a college English class. We used Powerpoint to present a controversial topic. It was an excellent preview for my university experience. Not only were they used in almost every lecture, but it became an unspoken requirement that any student presentation must be accompanied by Powerpoint. In both cases the use of Powerpoint slides either enhanced an excellent lecture, especially when the slides could be printed out beforehand for improving note taking, or it amplified the terribleness of a presentation.
One of my university courses was developing web map applications using Google Maps and other technologies. I was a teacher aid for an undergraduate class on healthy communities and was able to teach the students how to develop their own maps for the neighborhood they were investigating with Google Earth*. The rest of the class was discussions on the reading. The class review showed that many students considered that single activity to be the most useful, and best, lesson in the class. It was like the student's professors reading from the textbook (Prensky, Digital Natives Digital Immigrants) in that the students were simply told what to think about the readings.
To be honest the assigned readings and videos did not change my mind about the subject. I am there with them. Prensky used a game to develop training for a CAD application. Let us investigate what is involved with creating a video game as the curriculum. With my current excitement for the upcoming game Dragon Age we will use Role Playing games as an example. Artists are not only needed to create the visual content, but they also need to be able to present information clearly (art and presentation skills) as well as background music and sound effects (more art). A world needs to exist for the story to take place in and it needs to make sense (science and social studies). Let us not forget the story the hero or heroine takes (English and psychology). The game itself needs to be programmed and balanced to make the experience fun as well (lots and lots of math and logic). It is the ultimate lesson plan integrating all the core subject areas. There are so many free or inexpensive tools out there to make it happen.
Technology is not the magic silver bullet these authors make it out to be. Freshman at Portland State University are required to make a web portfolio of their work for their end of year project. Undergraduate teacher assistants are responsible for teaching how to create web pages. The majority of these undergraduate educators are technology phobic and never became comfortable with the skills themselves, much less teaching it. Despite the similar age to myself they are digital immigrants.
Using technology to create and communicate can be amazing. Yet while people may be comfortable using an iPod, making a webpage is a frightening and difficult experience. Giving students the option to work in groups was the best discovery I ever made. Those comfortable with what they were doing could go solo without feeling dragged down. These are the natives who can parallel process and random access. (Prensky, Digital Natives Digital Immigrants) These immigrants, or naive individuals, still prefer content delivered in a legacy fashion individually. As a group they often operate as a digital native enabling me to teach to the natives without cramping the old fashioned style. It can work, and students are proud of their work when they can actually create a product that is meaningful for them.
* I promise I am not paid by or an employee of Google.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Introduction
My name you ask? David Radford, future middle school science educator extraordinaire! As for my favorite animals I must respond with Humans. Out of all the species on the planet they are the most entertaining to watch in their native environment.
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