Todd+Deschaine

Todd Deschaine's Page

EDUC 6715 -- Week 5 - MUVES and Professional Development - July 28, 2012
This was a comprehensive article that did some good additional explanations on the MUVE environments, especially the positive effects that MUVE participation would have on the students using it. There was also a nice explanation about the users and how security is ensured. []

I wanted to see more real MUVE application sites, and one that specifically dealt with Mathematics was called AquaMOOSE 3D. AquaMOOSE is described as a graphical environment that helps students learn about math and computer programming. The user becomes a fish, and programs their movement throughout the various water worlds that can be selected. It does involve downloading and installation on the individual computers, so I do not know the feasibility of using AquaMOOSE during the school year, but I hope to investigate this once the year starts. The interface of AquaMOOSE seems a bit complicated, actually using a calculus class as an example. I thought this was more along the lines of a high school math or science class that would be working with the three direction axis. []

One MUVE that seemed more appropriate for the middle school level is called Quest Atlantis. There seems to be many interfaces or worlds to explore, and each is tied to a specific learning activity. This platform also requires a download, and there seems to be a more detailed instruction process that initially looked intimidating. Once the student gets registered, it is not so daunting a task to get started. There seems to be a big push by the administrators of Quest Atlantis for more educators to work with them to develop content, and they seem cautious to the amount of time and commitment is required in order to create their own virtual world. []

I also explored the sire called Eduism, and at first glance it appeared like a site that could be used easily. They seem to have all the right wording, and catch phrases, but after watching the videos, it was quite confusing. There is a video about adding a bird to their virtual world. It starts out by adding a picture file, then a sound file, and a movie file. I was fine until the point where the video adds a parse file. My experience with parsing has been limited to AutoCAD in a manufacturing environment, and I remember how parsing an object would really grind the computers to a halt. The parsing process on Eduism seemed very vague, and a model bird just appeared. I am sure that this parse file had been created previously, and it took the largest amount of time. This parse file seems to be where the magic of the 3D environment really happens. []

The site I am familiar with that best suits the middle school mathematics environment is the Lure of the Labyrinth, sponsored by MIT. The user, or player has to find their stolen pet by solving a variety of math-based puzzles. It is worth the visit, and be careful not to get addicted to the game like I did. []

EDUC 6715 -- Week 4 - Course Management Systems - July 19, 2012
I presented the overview on the E-Chalk course management system currently in use at our school to four people: two peer teachers, a curriculum supervisor, and our building principal. The curriculum supervisor was aware of the enhanced and expanded capabilities of E-Chalk, while the teachers and principal were not. They were aware that E-Chalk had a great deal more to offer than we were currently using, but they were not aware of the specifics, and more importantly, the potential for increasing the entire classroom experience for the students, their parents, and our community. The actual presentation took approximately forty-five minutes, but our meeting ran much longer as there were several discussions as we proceeded through the presentation. The overall tone of the meeting was very cordial. I consider the others in the meeting to have aligned visions to what and how our school can proceed and improve. I asked them to be critical, playing devil's advocate at times to see what obstacles we would encounter along the route of full implementation. They supplied knowledgeable and rational feedback, being realistic in their objections. They also saw many of the benefits of using the enhanced features that are not currently being used. The biggest objections that seemed to be a common thread amongst the features was that of training and time. All of us knew that these excuses would be present from many of the faculty and staff. There were some other concerns and thoughts about the use of certain modules, like the teaching blogs and using them in the correct context. There were also some concerns that the work might not even be used; specifically, the school's online calendar. I suggested that there may be a multitude of people using the calendar function, but we simply do not recognize the number who do because we focus on those who do not. Some of the suggestions made in order to keep this moving forward were quite constructive and promising. Since this was my presentation, most of the action items fell to me, but none are so daunting as to dissuade the further efforts towards implementation. These items include:
 * 1) Contacting E-Chalk to see about page view counters to monitor usage.
 * 2) Utilizing common planning time as a means to instruct the users in E-Chalk training and then the implementation and maintenance of their pages.
 * 3) A presentation to smaller groups at the beginning of the school year.
 * 4) Further research on the teacher blog pages to understand the implications of their use, both in a positive and negative manner.
 * 5) Additional software required to make the files available. Specifically, Adobe Acrobat for converting all files into a .pdf format for consistency and accessibility.
 * 6) A presentation during back to school nights that would introduce E-Chalk to the community as the primary means of communications.

Overall, I felt as the meeting was positive. There were action items to keep the effort moving forward, which in itself is a positive sign of progress. I have been in meetings with the principal and curriculum supervisor where the results were not positive, so the tone of the meeting ended in a non-committal tone, along the lines of "We will get back to you later". This meeting resulted in expected actions, and I was pleased with the realistic nature of the action items.

Here is a copy of the presentation I made.

=
Electronic readers, or e-readers, such as the Kindle® or the Nook®are now dropping in price and can provide benefits to the students and our classrooms. ===== Using e-readers in classroom settings can be analyzed by using McLuhan's Tetrad:

1. The e-reader may be replaced by smaller, more compact reading devices, such as those integrated on smart phones. ||
 * __Enhancement__
 * 1) The e-reader allows for easy portability of numerous textbooks as opposed to carrying them from class to class and to the students' homes.
 * 2) Instant updates, revisions, and corrections are provided to the user.
 * 3) Can combine several media forms of the same title, allowing multimedia and differentiated learning.
 * 4) Cost savings to the user or school district when purchasing new books.
 * 5) Reduces paper consumption and saves trees.
 * 6) Can receive assignments and updates directly from the teacher. ||  __Obsolete__
 * 7) The e-reader obsoletes the paper textbook. ||
 * __Retrieval__
 * 1) Instant updates, revisions, and corrections from previous volumes of books.
 * 2) The e-reader provides the user with the joy of reading. The user no longer has to go to a library or a store to get a book. ||  __Reversal__

The impact of an e-reader may be positive to the user, providing them with a resource that can be used to enhance their learning and streamline their work throughout the day. The impact on the school, the teacher, or a support person may not always be positive. The teachers will be forced to integrate the technology into their current classrooms. The initial work will be rewarded with new possibilities no available previously. Subscriptions to periodicals that would automatically be downloaded onto the students' e-readers would provide new learning approaches to current events.However, e-readers would come with their share of detriments as well. Textbooks do not break if they are dropped from the top of a desk. Theft would also become an issue with an e-reader compared to middle and high school level textbooks. A more disciplined approach to the issuing, safety, and use of the e-reader would be a priority if the program were to succeed.

The financial considerations alone may be the best reason for adopting of the e-reader into the schools. A typical textbook costs between fifty and seventy-five dollars each. Traditionally, students receiving four or five textbooks. The cost of an e-reader is currently less than two hundred dollars, retail pricing. In many districts, such as my district, there is not enough funding for each student to receive a textbook, so the teachers are forced to used class sets. This does not allow the students to take the books home for review, homework, or additional study. The limitation of using one textbook per subject class would be eliminated. Many subjects are taught based on what is contained in the textbook, and material is omitted or covered in an alternate method. The e-reader would lift these limitations, and the teachers would have the potential to incorporate more books, more multimedia, and more learning into their classrooms.

EDUC 6714 -- Week 6 - Additional Resources for Universal Design for Learning (UDL) - June 10, 2012
@http://www.k8accesscenter.org This website has many submitted articles that address the concept of incorporating UDL into the everyday classroom. There were a couple of things I really liked about this website, the first was that the articles were sorted by subject and by grade level. I can absolutely appreciate that UDL is important, but it is also very specific to our subject and our students. By providing the selection, it helped me find my way to articles quickly. The second thing I liked about the site was it contained mostly articles from actual teachers. Not to disrespect those people trying to help teachers, but to me it seems more genuine if I can relate directly to another teacher who can share the upsides and downsides to their own UDL principles.

@http://lureofthelabyrinth.net This site was sent to our middle school mathematics teachers, and although it does not say UDL anywhere on the site, it is a perfect example of a UDL application: getting students to choose their own methods of assessment, garnering attention, and providing varied input to students. The site is sponsored by MIT, and is a very cool role-playing game in which you have to rescue your pet by solving mathematical problems. It has a theme, a storyline, and allowed the students to choose characters and solving methods. The game itself was addictive, and I thought it was great when the students would discover the basic math behind a problem, then be able to solve the higher level situations. Student collaboration was the highest I have seen. It also allowed me to end the school year with the students engaged in learning while using technology.

@http://www.udlcenter.org/implementation/examples I am sure that I visited this website prior to this week, by spending some time on the resources and examples page provided me with some additional resources, especially some additional mathematics resources. There were numerous examples and tools for each of the checkpoints within the UDL principles. Unlike many other websites, most of the tools and links on the UDLCenter website still were working. __

Thank you for your feedback on my UDL video - Feel free to share it with your school if you feel so inclined.

Katie

EDUC 6714 -- Week 4 - Universal Design for Learning (UDL) Presentation - May 25, 2012
In order to best show my colleagues at my school what UDL is attempting to accomplish in the classroom, I illustrated the three learning types into the most BORING topic in all of middle school mathematics - THE PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM. I realized that showing examples of the UDL concepts within a topic that had traditional difficulty would be the most effective manner of presenting the UDL material. I actually presented this to my team of teachers, and they came away with two lessons. They saw the visions of UDL, and I had two Language Arts teachers say they now understood the math! Perhaps there is some hope - the next thing you know I might actually use sentence transitions, simile, and imagety in my writing! I hope you will take a few moments to look over my presentation and give me your comments. Thanks in advance for your time.



I love the non-examples that you use. I really think that the visuals that you have chosen would resonate with students! To enhance this understanding you state “ “O_n_c_e_ _t_h_e_ _s_t_u_d_e_n_t_s_ _s_e_e_ _t_h_e_ _d_i_s_c_o_v_e_r_y_ _o_f_ _t_h_e_ _t_h_e_o_r_e_m_,_ _t_h_e_y_ _w_i_l_l_ _c_o_n_n_e_c_t_ _t_h_e_ _p_i_c_t_u_r_e_s_ _t_o_ _t_h_e_ _f_o_r_m_u_l_a_ _– _a_n_d_ _h_o_p_e_f_u_l_l_y_ _w_i_l_l_ _r_e_t_a_i_n_ _t_h_e_ _k_n_o_w_l_e_d_g_e_ _i_n_ _a_ _m_o_r_e_ _s_u_c_c_e_s_s_f_u_l_ _m_a_n_n_e_r” You then go on to show examples and state how the Pythagorean theorem applies to real world examples of modern building/architecture, which encourages engagement and motivation for students in the classroom. You also hit it on the head when you state that students need to be connected to the material and understand “why” the material is important. If you were going to present this to your whole staff, would you only include this example or would you include information from other content areas?

Katie

Katie - I guess it would depend on several factors. I chose my target audience as my fellow math teachers, so if I expanded the audience to include other subject areas, I would include examples that would show how other subject areas could be affected by UDL. If I were pressed for time, and this presentation took about 20 minutes, I would not include additional examples. I would not want to be one of those presentors at a staff meeting that goes on and on about a subject that might not be applicable to everyone. Thanks for the input! Todd

- --- Online Surveys

//Interest Survey// [] There are many interest surveys that I found on the Internet. This area was filled with surveys that were inappropriate for middle school students. Many sites were nothing more than ways to get the person to give up personal information or money before the results would be given. The interest surveys ranged from elementary school level to adult level, and few provided any immediate feedback. I would not want or allow my students to go wandering around attempting to locate an appropriate site because of the potential waste of time and the issues with identity control. I did find a site that had two nice surveys that should be printed out for the students. The first was more of the simple interests and information, and seemed appropriate for younger middle school students. The hyperlink to this survey is: []. There is a more complete survey, which I thought allows the student's opinions, likes, dislikes, and even fears come through in a very simple manner. Located at http://teacher.scholastic.com/LessonPlans/unit_roadtosuccess_invent.pdf, this survey is four pages, and the questions range from simple answers to more complex answers. Although it appears to be written for younger students, the questions are quite appropriate for middle school students, especially if the student takes their time to complete the survey with some thought and extended effort.

//Learning Style// [] This learning styles survey was short and to the point. The questions were clear and easily related to the person taking the survey. It did not seem targeted to any one age group, and I can see it being used by adults as well as middle school students. The survey was free and from a source that was not interested in selling something or looking for a subscription. Another nice feature was the immediate feedback it gave in both written and graphical forms. With the results, it was left up to the person to explore each learning style in more detail based on their results.

//Multiple Intelligences// [] I found this website geared towards older students, specifically early high school. It would be appropriate for eighth grade students as well. Some of the questions seemed repetitive; however, with the immediate feedback the survey gave it made sense that there needed to be a more specific delineation in the ratings of the intelligences. The survey resulted in a detailed description of the top three intelligences, regardless of the levels. For instance, I took the survey once, gearing the answers to the interpersonal result. When this result showed, the interpersonal scored much higher than the other skills, so it was appropriate that it was ranked and shown the highest. On the contrary, I took the survey again so that four of the intelligences scored in the 2.9-3.0 range. Since there was not a clear dominant intelligence, the survey kind of lost the impact by showing only the top three.

//Learning Profile Inventory// [] This was a quick but simple online survey that gave immediate feedback to the user. To some it might seem to need more detail; however, the survey was quick and effective to identify the learner's profile and type. I thought that the forty-eight questions might be too much for middle school students; however, the number of questions might be necessary in order to provide such an accurate profile for the user.

//My Mathematics Survey for Incoming Students// [] Using Surveymonkey.com limited the number of questions to ten, but I think if the questions are tailored to more detailed information than name and address, it can be done well. I attempted to get the know my incoming students' perceptions of mathematics. It has been my experience that the incoming students fall into several combinations of categories, and knowing their category can help me tailor to their individual needs when possible. For example, a student may come into my classroom hating math, but they did like it at some point in their past. I would need to find out what changed their attitude about math. There are others who have hated math, still hate math, and think they will always hate math. Superficially, they are affected by their most recent math teacher. There are several really good math teachers, and unfortunately there are several poor teachers as well. These teachers' math skills are fine, but their rapport or classroom demeanor may have changed the students' feelings. I have had classes that were heavily weighted from a single teacher who was poor, and just getting the students to give math another chance was quite a battle. The first few weeks of class really do set the tone for the rest of the year, so the quicker I can get awareness to their experiences the better chance I have at winning them back. I like the online version of the survey process. It introduces technology into my room quickly, and provides me feedback in a timely manner. The students will respond while in class, so they may give the survey more of a serious thought than if they were at home. By the students realizing that I am genuinely interested in them, the process of building the relationship between the student, the teacher, and the subject begins more quickly and effectively.