EDTEC 770 Presentation

You may view my presentation (I hope) at the following link: Speech Synthesis and Word Processing. Good Luck!

EDTEC 770 Final Paper

Effect of Speech Synthesis and Word Processing on Reading Achievement

Abstract

The use of technology with at-risk or low achieving students is having a positive impact on learning and student achievement. Studies indicate that speech synthesis software and the use of the word processor during writing increase motivation for the writing process for students with reading and writing disabilities. Hearing the story while composing helps students foster reading with meaning; however researchers found that student writers using word processors and speech synthesis software revise more, write more, and spend more time writing, produce neater, more error-free texts an important part of writing. More studies are advised to correlate the use of speech synthesis and reading for meaning with increased student achievement.

Introduction

Educational reform worldwide is increasingly concerned and preoccupied with school failure. School failure has a double meaning – the failure of some students to secure educational achievements and opportunities on a par with their peers; and the failure of schools to provide all of their students, especially those from poor or minority backgrounds, with those achievements and opportunities (Haegreaves, 2004)

Many low-income children enter school already behind their more affluent peers. Teachers must embrace their responsibility to help students acquire a solid foundation for school success (Musti-Raa and Carteledge, 2007). There is accumulating evidence that teachers’ instructional interactions with children have the greatest value for students’ performance when they are focused, direct, intentional, and characterized by feedback loops involving student performance. Explicit teaching experiences and practice (i.e. phonemic skills, vocabulary), productive classroom teaching, learning, intensive scaffolding and feedback to students about their progress can lead to higher academic achievement.

The value of intentional, focused interaction and feedback is not limited to reading, but appears to be a key component in other skill domains such as writing that may extend to cognition and higher order thinking (Hamre & Pianta, 2005). The use of technology with at-risk or low achieving students is having a positive impact on learning and achievement. The Apple Classrooms for Tomorrow (ACOT) Project has reported positive impacts on student attitudes, motivation, and learning (Puma, 2000). When students work with computer technologies, instead of being controlled by them, they enhance the capabilities of the computer. When this occurs the computer enhances students thinking and learning skills (Jonassen, Carr and Yueh, 1998). Other studies indicate that it is not simply access to technology that is important, but rather, how teachers use it as a tool to enhance learning (Puma, 2000).

Literature Review

At-Risk Students

Home issues that place students at risk of school failure are low maternal education (Hamre & Pianta, 2005); parent and sibling substance abuse, family violence, lack of parental supervision, lack of parental educational support and involvement, parents who speak English as a second language, criminal parental behavior (Johnson, 1997. Educators often see these issues as a major influence on whether or not an at-risk student will succeed in school. Some teachers are perceived as having the attitude that low-achieving students do not have the same ability as their low-risk peers. Actions and behaviors directed toward students indicate a lack of belief in their academic abilities. Students reported teachers telling them that they were destined to work at Burger King or McDonald’s (Lee, 1999). Lack of teacher expectation and teacher-centered classrooms is one factor in students not achieving in the classroom. In these teacher-centered classrooms lectures are the common way of teaching along with minimal communication resulting in limited learning (Lee, 1999).

Students’ perception of school was a place where they can feel safe, comfortable and cared about (Lee, 1999). Child-centered classrooms nurture positive relationships between teacher and student. These classrooms provided explicit teaching and practice, intensive scaffolding and feedback to students about their progress (Hamre & Pianta, 2005). Direct instruction is required for those students having limited language competencies and minimal background experiences (Johnson, 1997). Teachers need to take the time to present concepts and ideas in multiple ways (lectures, group work, visual aides, manipulatives, varying text, music) to ensure comprehension (Lee, 1999). Greater achievement for Title I students was associated with the use of task oriented teaching that avoided classroom disruptions, the use of academically challenging materials and asking more “opinion” rather than simple factual questions (Puma, 2000).

Reading

The importance of being able to read is critical to student achievement. The U.S. Department of Education clearly defines the five essential components of reading instruction as described in Reading First, part of the ESEA Act.

1. Phonemic Awareness: the ability to hear, identify, and manipulate the individual sounds – phonemes – in spoken words. Phonemic awareness is the understanding that the sounds of spoken language work together to make words.

2. Phonics: the understanding that there is a predictable relationship between phonemes – the sounds of spoken language – and graphemes – the letters and spellings that represent those sounds in written language. Readers use these relationships to recognize familiar words accurately and automatically and to decode unfamiliar words.

3. Vocabulary Development: the development of stored information about the meanings and pronunciation of words necessary for communications.

4. Fluency: the ability to read text accurately and quickly. It provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. Fluent readers recognize words and comprehend at the same time.”

5. Comprehension: strategies for understanding, remembering, and communicating with others about what has been read. Comprehension strategies are sets of steps that purposeful active readers use to make sense of text (Reading Recovery, 2003).

Teaching students to read should be educators’ number one priority but how that happens depends on the reader’s background knowledge and educational experiences. Some children grasp the process no matter what way they are taught; others require different approaches (Scherer, 2007). The National Reading Panel find that teachers should adopt a “balanced” reading approach with instruction in phonemic awareness, alphabetic understanding, and automaticity with the code forming the framework of beginning reading instruction. Good reading instruction is explicit, intensive and systematic (Musti-Rao and Carteledge, 2007).

Reading involves the use of various cue systems or knowledge structures that interact during the act of reading. These cues provide information to the reader in order that meaning can be constructed from the text. The skilled reader can comprehend quickly by using only minimal cues from each of the systems. These cues are described as phonetic, semantic, orthographic, syntactic, lexical or sources of information outside the reader. The reader will backtrack for more cues if those already picked out are not sufficient for the text to make sense (Lafreamboise, 1989).

Students with reading disabilities have a particularly difficult time with word recognition, especially phonological decoding skills (Higgins, Raskind and The Frostig Center, 2005). The poor reader may not have sufficient information provided by sight vocabulary and syntactic, phonic, and orthographic cues to bring meaning to the text. The reader may be hindered from being able to construct meaning from text (Laframboise, 1989).

Technology can be a powerful compensatory tool – it can augment sensory input or reduce distractions; it can provide support for cognitive processing or enhance memory and recall; it can serve as a personal “on demand” tutor and as an enabling device that supports independent functioning (National Association for the Education of Young Children, 1996). Efforts should be made to ensure access to appropriate technology for children with special needs, for whom assistive technologies may be essential for successful inclusion (NAEYC, 1996).

Optical Character Recognition

The use of optical character recognition (OCR) systems combined with speech synthesis has become increasingly accepted as a means to compensate for reading difficulties (Higgins, Raskind and The Frostig Center, 2005). OCR systems convert printed text to the spoken word. Students with reading disabilities can bypass their phonological difficulties by hearing the printed word, which may be a more efficient way of comprehending text (Higgins, et al., 2005).

OCR systems are generally desktop computers combined with flatbed full-page scanners. Users scan printed documents; the printed text is converted to electronic text that is read aloud by a speech synthesizer. The text is displayed on the screen while the text is read aloud by the speech synthesizer. The Quicktionary Reading Pen is handheld unit approximately 1” X ¾” X 6.” The unit allows the user to scan printed text either a word or line at a time. Scanned words appear on the screen within 1-3 seconds and are read aloud by a built-in speech synthesizer (Higgins, et al., 2005).

Statistical analysis revealed significant increases in correct responses to reading comprehension. Other studies have shown that speech synthesis, in combination with optical character recognition, improved comprehension of collect students with severe reading deficits (Higgins, et al., 2005). Over time, the constant exposure to new vocabulary that stimulates the exploratory, analytic behavior could conceivably result in significant improvements in reading vocabulary and affect comprehension positively (Higgins, et al.).

The authors (Higgins, et al.) caution that the use of OCR technology with more able readers can disrupt the comprehension process because of the auditory input that was not necessary for them. They also caution about generalizing the efficacy values in their study to other chronological ages and grade levels, or to other populations of disabled and non-disabled readers (p. 35).

Writing

Special education students often have difficulties in written expression such as accurately conveying their ideas in written language or generating stories (Kelly, Kratcoski and McClain, 2006). Children who are experiencing difficulties with writing receive little regular, additional or remedial instruction. Students have a limited conception of the nature of revision, concentrating mainly on mechanical errors in punctuation and spelling, rather than on text-meaning alterations (Wilkinson and Anderson, 1992).

Writing is, by its nature, a process in addition to being a product (Laframboise, 1989). The Balanced Literacy Model (2003) defines the essential components of the writing process.

1. Prewriting – the opportunity to generate ideas and discover what is known and what to say about a topic

2. Writing – translating ideas into sentences and paragraphs and writing for a particular audience, voice and purpose in mind.

3. Revising – adding new details, making sentences clearer, reading the writing as readers not writers, reorganizing and focusing ideas.

4. Editing – applying state standard information, making the writing ready for publication or presentation – correcting the spelling, sentences, punctuation and usage.

5. Sharing – reading, seeing and/or hearing others’ writing (pp. 50).

Word Processor

Intervention is a normal part of life in a lifetime of learning (Scherer, 2007). Neuman (2007) defines intervention as “systematic and intentional efforts to provide supplemental health, education and social services to at-risk children and their families” (p. 17). Writing with a word processor could be viewed as an intervention, rather than a long-term writing method in the classroom (Kelly, et. al., 2006). The lack of specific remedial instruction in writing for these students is suggested by several researchers (e.g. Christenson, Thurlow, Ysseldyke, & McVicar, 1989) as a factor in their failure to improve. This is supported by reports of positive effects on productivity, cohesiveness and accuracy when specific instruction in aspects of writing has been used in intervention. Mann (1999) found that consistent student access to the technology, positive attitudes towards technology and teacher training in the technology leads to greater student achievement gains (p. 7).

Computers can be tools for enhancing written language, yet using the computer requires literacy (Dalute, 2000). Literacy development depends in large part on having extensive, engaging exposure to print and involvement with communication technologies that is print intensive. Students who do not have access to these technologies may be at a disadvantage (Dalute, 2000). Children communicating via computers face social and ethical challenges, requiring that they understand and control the contexts, purposes and processes of written language. They are involved in critical literacy as they continue to master the mechanics of writing (Dalute, 2000). Teachers should look for ways to use computers to support the development and learning that occur in other parts of the classroom and development and learning that happen with computers in complement with activities off the computer (NAEYC, 1996).

Student writers using word processors revise more, write more, and spend more time writing, produce neater, more error-free texts than they do with paper and pencil (Wilkinson and Anderson, 1992). The word processor presents the text in a form the reader can view immediately on the computer monitor or later on a printout. Word processors reduce short-term memory burdens, especially for younger writers who find it easier to type and correct mistakes than to form letters, words, and sentences, and easier to give commands than to recopy entire texts (Dalute, 2000). Students who use computers when writing are more engaged and motivated, and also produce written work that is longer and of a higher quality than students who do not use computers to write (Kelly, et.al., 2006). High motivation aside, word processing may actually enhance learning by influencing the cognitive processes of language production (Laframboise, 1989).

Speech synthesis features may hold particular promise for students in special education, because hearing text aloud may provide additional prompts to help them revise their work (Kelly, et.al., 2006). Speech synthesis converts the text to speech while word prediction software predicts the intended word based on the beginning of the word that the user types. The addition of speech to word processors to enable text to be read back to the writer may, within the appropriate instructional context, enhance aspects of the writing process (Wilkinson and Anderson, 1992).

One effect of speech synthesis was the positive impact on revision during the writing process. Kelly, et. al. (2006) referenced a teacher’s observation of the reduction of spelling errors during the use of the speech synthesis program Write Out Loud. This program speaks while students are writing making it easier for them to edit their work.

“When we went to Write Out Loud, they were very aware of the spelling errors, because they could hear the way the word was being pronounced. So they tended more to the screen and the configuration of the words and whether or not all of the sounds were there and right now I see that when they are typing an e-mail or something they will go back, even though they are not hearing the word, they’re going back and they are able to recognize letters that are missing or sounds that are missing in words because I think they have had that experience of hearing the typed word” (p. 6).

Soundproof is a speech synthesis program students can activate whenever required in their word processing program. They are able to specify whether to read words, lines, sentences or paragraphs and could also navigate around the text and choose to read different text segments. As each word is read it is highlighted on the screen. Students could listen to the speech synthesizer through speakers or, more preferably, headphones (Wilkinson and Anderson, 1992).

Soundproof was extensively and successfully used by the students at the language convention level. Students often changed spelling and attended to capital letters as a result of listening to their stories (Wilkinson and Anderson, 1992).

One aspect of the study that did not materialize the way the researchers planned was the increase in analyzing the writing through meaning. Wilkinson and Anderson (1992) noted students occasionally made alterations to story endings, but there was no evidence to indicate that they were using speech feedback to rephrase or re-sequence their stories (p. 12). The students used the speech synthesizing software to attend to mechanical errors rather than meaning.

A positive aspect of the use of word processors and/or speech synthesizers in the writing process was the increase in motivation on the part of students. There were numerous studies (Wilkinson & Anderson, 1992; Kelly, et.a., 2006; Schactez, 1999; Higgins, Raskind and The Frostig Center, 2005; Dalute, 2000) that cited the motivation for writing while using technology was a factor in increased achievement in reading and writing. More studies need to be completed on how to motivate our at-risk students in order to raise their achievement level.

References

Balanced Literacy Model (1^st ed). (2003). Fort Wayne, IN.

Dalute, Colette. (in press). Writing and Communication Technologies. In Roselmina Indrisano & James R. Squire (Eds) Perspectives on Writing: Research, Theory and Practice: International Reading Association, April 2000.

ESEA fact sheets describing Reading Recovery in relation to the federal definition of scientifically based reading research and the five essential elements of reading instruction. http://www.readingrecovery.org/sections/home/adv_esea_factsheets.asp.

Hamre, Bridget K. & Pianta, Robert. (2005). Can Instructional and Emotional Support in the First-Grade Classroom Make a Difference for Children at Risk of School Failure. Child Development, v76, n5, September/October 2005, pp. 949-967.

Higgins, Eleanor, Raskind, Marshall & The Frostig Center. (2005). The Compensatory Effectiveness of the Quicktionary Reading Pen II on the Reading Comprehension of Students with Disabilities. Journal of Special Education, 20(1), Winter 2005, pp. 31-40.

Jonassen, David, Carr, Chad & Yueh, Hsiu-Ping. (1998). Computers as Mindtools for Engaging Learners in Critical Thinking. TechTrends, v 43 n2 pp. 24-32 March 1998.

Kelly, Jennifer, Kratcoski, Annette & McClain, Karen. (2006). The Effects of Word Processing Software on the Writing of Students with Special Needs. Journal of the Research Center for Educational Technology, Winter 2006, pp. 1-16.

Laframboise, Kathryn. (1989). The Effects of Sentence-Combining Using Word Processing Technology on the Reading Comprehension and Writing Fluency of Low-Achieving Fourth Grade Students. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Educational Research Association, Savannah, GA.

Lee, Patrick W. (1999). An Ethnographic Study of Low-Achieving Students within the Context of School Reform. Urban Education, v34, n2, May 1999, pp. 214-244.

Musti-Rao and Cartledge, Gwendolyn. (2007). Delivering What Urban Readers Need. Educational Leadership, v54, n2, October 2007, pp. 56-61.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (1996). Technology and Young Children – Ages 3 through 8. Washington DC.

Neuman, Susan B. (2007). Changing the Odds. Educational Leadership, v65, n2, October 2007, pp. 17-21.

Puma, Michael. (2000). Exploring New Directions. Title I in the Year 2000. The National School Boards Association, 2000.

Schactez, John. (1999). The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement: What the Most Current Research Has to Say. Santa Monica, CA: Milken Exchange on Education Technology.

Scherer, Marge. Interventions That Work. Educational Leadership, v65 n2 October 2007 p7.

Wilkinson, Lois & Anderson, Bill. (1992). Talking back and writing: Using a speech synthesizer and strategy instruction with students who have difficulty writing. Paper presented at the Joint AARE/NZARE Conference, Deakin University, Geelong, pp. 22-26, November 1992.

EDTEC 655 Final Presentation Link

My presentation can be viewed at the following link: The Internet as a Mindtool.

EDTEC 655 - Final Project

OVERVIEW

The purpose of my project is to find ways to bring the internet into the elementary school as in inquiry or mindtool. I was going to compere two different web sites, but as I went further with the project I decided to focus on only one web site becasue I wanted to tie it to our School Improvement Plan.

RATIONALE

My motivation for this particular project is to find a way to use sites such as http://www.quia.com/ in an elementary classroom. Web sites are used in middle and high schools to a greater extent than the elementary schools. The elementary level is lagging behind in using the technology available to them, especially the internet.

My school is in the process of setting up its first computer lab. The school currently has 2-4 computers per classroom that are used mainly for educational games. Very few classrooms are using the internet to enhance the district curriculum even though they have internet access in the classroom. Computer labs, in my mind, are crucial in elementary schools. Web sites, such as www.quia.com, in my opinion, are very suitable for an elementary computer lab. These web sites are appropriate not only for educators but for students.

READINGS

During this class we read different articles about Problem-Based Learning and Inquiry. The article that I found most helpful to me during this project was "Qualitative Assessment Activites for Pew Grant on Problem-Based Learning (PBL)" and can be found here. The article had two questions it wanted to answer: "How do students experience the PBL context?" and "What kinds of learning occur in the PBL setting."

There were several key findings from this study. They were: participation, compromise, respect, acceptance of different approaches and working styles, interpersonal, small group and communication skills, awareness of learning preference.

The students that participated in the focus groups liked the PBL style because they participated to a greater extent because they got to know the other students in the class and they were able to interact with them on a regular basis. A number of the students "credit the group aspect with helping them become more accountable and responsible. Because others depend on their contributions, the students are motivated to attend class regularly, to stay on top of their assignments and to come to class prepared with their work completed.

The students also found that the PBL experience is directly linked to how motivated the students are and how committed they are to the work. The group dynamic needs to be maintained at all times. Each member can help to monitor this. One finding under the collaboration heading was "opportunity for questions and feedback helps comprehension of the content."

Barbara Duch is a great resource for PBL and references for her can be found at the University of Delaware.

A book I have read in previous classes in Integrating Technology for Meaningful Learning by Mark and Cindy Grabe. This is a great book for anyone who is just beginning to explore technology and a WONDERFUL resource for connecting curriculum to technology. The book is designed with an emphasis on meaningful teacher and student learning with technology. One piece I found exceptionally useful to me is Chapter 6: The Internet as a Tool for Inquiry. This was the chapter that listed the Big Six, which are interrelated set of skills. They are:

*Task definition
*Information-seeking strategies
*Location and access
*Use of information
*Synthesis
*Evaluation

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is considering an educational path into curriculum and technology.

Computers as Mindtools for Engaging Learners in Critical Thinking by Jonanssen is an article that emphasizes mindtools, which is where I got my title for my article.
As I think about the definition of mindtools that was given in the article, I noticed Jonassen focused on spreadsheets as a great mindtool to use. I have used spreadsheets in my professional studies and in my job as an educator, but have not used them with my students. When I think about different types of spreadsheets I can think of the paper/pencil kind used by elementary school students: addition problems, number grids, graphing, etc. I have not thought to use the computer spreadsheets with the younger children, but this article certainly had differnt suggestions for use.

For this project I focused on the internet web sites as a mindtool, but I am definitely going to continue to explore the use of computer spreadsheets with elementary students. I also want to continue to explore the use of blogs at the elementary level. The article did talk about the use of conversational tools when talking about mindtools and gave a few examples. This was a great article!

DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

I am using the internet as my technology and mindtool to create this project. The web site http://www.quia.com/ was fairly easy to navigate. The instructions were easy to follow and the help links were excellent. I am attempting to post my presentation on my blog, but my first few attempts were not successful. In fact when I first tried to post it I lost everything that I had typed (bummer!!). I may attempt to post the presentation in a separate post.

NETS STANDARDS

National Educational Technology Standards for Students. This link will take you to these standards. I fell the following NETS standards are the main ones I see as being relevant to my project.

*Basic operations and concepts
-Students are proficient in the use of technology.

*Technology productivity tools
-Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity.
-Students use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology-enhanced models, prepare publications, and produce other creative works.

CHALLENGES

The biggest challenge I had with this project is trying to post my presentation to the blog. I have not yet mastered this yet, but I will not go down in defeat. As far as challenges to the project I am working on, the biggest one is not having a computer lab at schol to provide more of a PBL atmostphere to this project. It is nice to have the computers in the classsroom, but there are just not enough to do this project justice. If the goal is to make elementary students comfortable and confident with the technology associated with the internet, it is imperative that the students are taught in the most beneficial way possible. I would like to put this into practice when our computer lab is up and running.

PROJECT PERFORMANCE/OBSERVATIONS

As I state above, it will be interesting to see this project come to fruition when our computer lab is in place. When I was doing the simulation in http://www.quia.com/ I became very excited about the possibilities to be explored at the elementary level. Our School Improvement Plan is required to have a technology strand included. Since our focus is Reading Comprehension I would like to see one part of our action plan include this resource as a tool for teachers to use with students. Right now only teachers are making use of the web site and are finding it very useful.

Any feedback is welcome.

EDTEC 655 Mini Review #4

For this review I explored the website http://lgl.gameslearningsociety.org/games/php

To help frame my review I have answered the following questions:

1. Could you see yourself integrating AR games into your own curriculum? If so, would it be one of the eight games from the site above (as is or modified) or would you have to create something more specific to your subject area?

I really liked the Arboretum Game. It is a game designed for 1st through 5th grade students. "Created as a quick design exercise, the game leads players through the Arboretum as they explore different sections if it, look for plants and animals, and learn about the ecological attributes of its infrastructure." This is a great way to make science and social studies relevant to students in the elementary grades. The other games looked great, but the were geared more toward middle and high school students. In these settings, I can see a great benefit of the AR games in the curriculum. I like the way "Hip Hop Tycoon" integrate reading comprehension and math skills into the unit plan and game. Very nice site.

2. What do you feel are the benefits and/or detriments when looking at of integrating augmented reality games into your curriculum?

One of the benefits of using augmented reality games in the district curriculum is the ability to make the curriculum come alive for the students. This is one site that is very well done and could be beneficial to a district if used in the correct way.

3. Take one of the modeling ideas/reviews from the other group and apply it to your curriculum.

"The cycle of plant growth – photosynthesis – is difficult for most people I think, including students. That is one that no mater how many times one hears it, a physical model would likely aid in understanding. Also, the water cycle – evaporation, humidity, rain, etc." This is an example submitted by by Diana that could be a perfect lesson for the Arboretum Game. The AR model fo plant growth could be played out during the game.

Overall this was ag reat site. I would recommend this for educators.

EDTEC 655 Min Tech Review #3

I reviewed the website: http://www.classroomsim.com/

First of all, I found the program could not be run on my computer successfully, but I managed to get the gist of the website from the entry page. Here is my review.

Teacher Prep: What kind of teacher prep is available to train teachers how to use the item effectively? How important do you see teacher training to be in regard to implementing a sim/game/MUVE?

This simulation game would be useful in teacher preparation classes in a limited sense. It would be useful to have teacher preparatin students work with this simulation game before they begin student teaching. It does have some real world situations on what could happen in a classroom, however nothing substitutes for actually being in a classroom experiencing these things first hand.

Class Size: How would a large class size (25-30 students) affect the implementation of this game/sim/MUVE into the curriculum? Are there guidance systems that can be used to mitigate for large class size?

I would be very careful of the class size used when playing any simulation game. If the purpose of the game is to learn the different concepts presented in the game, then the smaller the class the better. The instructor needs to be able to provide assistance and guidance for the students and in a larger class size, this would proved to be problematic. If the small class size is not an option, then using the game with an LCD projector would provide for discussion as each of the events came up.

Learner Engagement: Does the game/sim/MUVE work for a broad range of abilities, learners? Does it have pedagogical "depth" or is it for a niche purpose?

I had a difficult time getting the game to work on my computer, so I will say that, theorectically speaking, the use of simulation games would provide for a broad range of learners if the text is read for the learner. Then you can say that it works for a broad range of abilities and learners.

Infrastructure: Is the game expandable to numerous users across network/platfrom structures?

I think it is.

EDTEC 655 Mini Review #2

I am reviewing the website Youdagames http://www.youdagames.com/simulation-games/. The site features a wide variety of simulation games. The question I want to answer on the subject of simulation games and this website in particular is:

"How can online simulation games be used at the Elementary grade level? Which games would be appropriate to use and which ones are for entertainment purposes?


When I looked at two games in particular, "Kindergarten" and "Konnectors" I wonder how relevant many of the simulation games are for the elementary level. "Kindergarten" is a simulation game that challenges the game player to run their own daycare. They must manage the children in the daycare and as they become more successful, more children are added. This game can be used to help secondary students become more cognizant of running and managing a business. You might be able to stretch and use this game in the intermediate grades in elementary school, but this may be over their heads. The education value is evident in the business management field, economics, fincance, etc. The game has real world processes (running the daycare), requires interaction on the part of the user and different choices result in different outcomes.

"Konnectors" is a game that I would use with elementary school students. This game involves getting a van across the screen to the other side in as few steps as possible. The user must plan out their route to avoid buildings and other obstacles. This requires planning on the part of the user and I see the use of this game as a whole group lesson (making decisions cooperatively) or working with a small group where everyone has to come to a decision aobut the best way to get across town.

The user is encouraged to explore other games at this website. ONe thing I would say about simulation games and elementary schools is there are not many games "real world" that would be pertinent to this level. Many of the games are aimed at middle or high school students.

Annotated Bibliography - EDTEC 770

Cavalier, Jamie C. and Klein, James D.Jamie C. "Effects of cooperative versus individual learning and orienting activities during computer-based instruction." Educational Technology Research and Development. Volume 46, Number 1 / March, 1998.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of implementing cooperative versus individual learning and orienting activities during computer-based instruction (CBI). Cooperative dyads and individuals worked through a CBI earth science program that contained either instructional objectives, advance organizers, or no orienting activities. Results indicated that students who received instructional objectives performed significantly better on intentional posttest items than students who received either advance organizers or no orienting activities. Results also revealed that dyads that received objectives exhibited significantly more on-task group behaviors, more helping behaviors, and fewer off-task behaviors than dyads in the other orienting activity conditions. Implications for CBI developers are explored.

Eisner' Dewey Society Address

http://www.infed.org/biblio/eisner_arts_and_the_practice_of_education.htm

This article certainly provided some interesting insights!

Eisner made an excellent point on what educational leaders are looking for today. "We look for "best methods" as if they were independent of context; we do more testing than any nation on earth; we seek curriculum uniformity so parents can compare their schools with other schools, as if test scores were good proxies for the quality of education...Acheivement has triumped over inquiry." I would have to agree with him on this point. As we enter into ISTEP testing week, the schools are feeling the pressure to dow well enough on thetest to pass AYP. This one test is the benchmark on whether a school is considered an excellent school or a failing school.

As I read the six points Eisner made in his article I couldn't help thinking about what we are working with our students on and my conversation with my literacy facilitator as we examined some theird grade stories. Her response to the students about correct spelling and punctuation was, yes they were important, but getting your ideas on paper was more important. This comment obviously hit home because the writing from my third grade was phenomenal!. Eisner said "How can we help our students view their work as temporary experimental accomplishments, tentative resting places subject to further change?" Education is about taking tentative steps and experimenting with nrew concepts. This can be true of technology.

One use of technology that my tech coordinator and I have just worked out is the use of the document image camera. We were baffled by how we would make this work with the current set ups in the rooms, but we figured it out. When I stopped back in the room, the teacher andstudents were so excited because it opened up a new way for them to work as a group. Everyone could follow along with the work begin done as a group because it was projected on the big screen. It was exciting to watch them take this step together.

Overall, a very interesting article.

Annotated Bibliography (EDTEC 770)

Birch, Dawn and Volkov, Michael. "Assessment of online reflections: Engaging English second language (ESL) students." Australian Journal of Educational Technology. 2007, 23(3), 291-306.

Online discussion boards are now ommonly used in many university courses and, in particular, to provcide a communication forum for distance learning students. The study presented in this paper looks at the impact of online discussions on perceived cognitive and social learning outcomes of English as a First Langage (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) students. Students were required to participate in 4 mandatory online discussions as part of their final grade. A rubric was provided for assessment which explained that their contributions would be evaluated as being excellent, good, sound, limited or minimal. An electronic survey was administered at the end of the course to determine how beneficial online discussion board are in terms of acheiveing key learning outcomes, such as understanding course content, developing learning networks and seeking advice on assessment items. ESL students consider online discussions to be beneficial for achieving a range of cognitive and social learning outcomes, as well as providing a convenient forum for communication. It also provided them with an opportunity to meet and develop a closer relationship with other stuents in the course and encouraged them to keep up with their studies.


Higgins, Eleanor and Raskind, Marshall. The Compensatory Effectiveness of the Quicktionary Reading Pen II on the Reading Comprehension of Students with Learning Disabilities. Journal of Special Education Technology, 20(1), Winter 2005. pp. 31 - 39.

Over the last decade, the use of optical character recognition (OCR) systems combined with speech synthesis has become increasingly accepted as a means to compensate for reading disabilities. The study presented in this study looks at the use of the Quicktionary Reading Pen II and whether its use increasing reading comprehension scores for students with learning disabilities. The pen is a handneld scanning device with optical character recognition and speech synthesis capabilities. It is held much like a pen and is guided across printed text. Thirty-four students ranging in age from 10-18 participated in the study. Students were given an opportunity for training in using the pen, a practice period and a time for the researcher to conduct classroom observations. The results of the study showed an average increase of 7 points on comprehension questions, more than one grade level higher when using the pen. Most students responded well to the technology, two of the students purchasing the pen to use at home.

Schactez, John. "The Impact of Education Technology on Student Achievement: What the Most Current Research Has to Say." Milken Exhange on Education Technology. 1999. 13 pp.

This document explores five large scale studies of education technology. These studies were selected for their scope, comprehensive ssamples, and generalizability to local, state, and national audiences. The first study (James Kulik's (1994)) employed a statistical technique called meta'analysis to aggregate the results of over 500 individual studies to draw a single conclusion. The second study (Jay Sivin-Kachala (1998)) reviewed hundreds of individual studies whreby the authors shed light on consistent patterns that emerged across studies. The third study (Baker, Gecrhart, and Herman's (1994)) reviewed a partnership between Apple and five schools across the nation. The fouth study (Dale Mann's (1999)) reported the results of West Virginia's 10 year statewide education technology intitiative. The fifth study (Harold Wenglinsky (1998) assessed a national sample of fouth and eighth grade students using newer simulation and higher order thinking technologies. The sixth (Marlene Scardamalia and Carl Bereiter (1996)) and seventh (Idit Harel (1988)) studies reviewed two smaller scale studies that show the promise of new emerging technologies on student learning. Findings suggest that lerning technology is less effective or ineffective when the learning objectives are unclear and the focus of the technology use is diffuse.

Mini Tech Review #1 (EDTEC 655)

Destination Reading is a computer program that is used in my previous school. It is published by Riverdeep. Along with Destination Reading is Destination Math. The programs are specially designed for either primary grades or intermediate grades. This is a program my new school is thinking of purchasing.


This is a computer game that offers detailed instruction in reading and math. The program offers individualized instruction, collaborative learning as well as opportunites for whole class instruction. Immediate feedback is offered for students and the set up is very child friendly. I like this game becasuse it helps students to learn not only the basic reading and math skills but goes deeper into comprehension and math analysis skills. I would recommend this game for schools.

Student Achievement Spreadsheets

Nancy and I created a spreadsheet that looks at Student data. The purpose of the activity was to convert scores for students so that they could be labeled in four different categories: above grade level, at grade level, below grade level (bubble) or significantly below grade level.

We worked on the spreadsheet for quite some time, adding lookup tables, IF statements, charts and hyperlinks. The spreadsheet works like a computer document, which was the goal. I struggled with creating lookup tables, but I finally figured out how to make one. Navigating around the spreadsheet became fun for me as I added more and more features.

The spreadsheet is designed to help anyone looking at the sheet to look at the data in different categories. The auto filters are designed to help the reader to look at the data in different catefories. You can look at one data set or all of the data. The one disadvantage of working with data sets this large is the amount of work it takes to convert everything to numbers. The spreadsheet does not recognize text when writing a formula.

The purpose of doing this assignment is working with a spreadsheet in a different way. This was an exciting project for me. Now I just need to figure out how to upload a picture into my document.

smartDESKTOP

I am going to review smartDESKTOP, a website I discovered while in my last EDTEC class. It was a great site to visit and I would recommend this site to teachers and administrators alike. Our teachers collaborate weekly by grade level and 5 times a year, cross grade level. We have the capability at my school to view webpages on a large screen via an LCD projector. smartDESKTOP is a great tool to use to coordinate lesson plans because the teachers can plan the basic lessons together. My goal is to have everyone in the grade level working toward the same goal and I believe this website is a great way to do that.

The website is http://www.smarddesktop.org The site has free accounts for users.

smartDESKTOP helps you to plan for classes short or long range. When I was on the site this summer I planned for a reading intervention class (long range). I love this site because it helps teachers stay focused on the long range goal: increased student achievement.

The monthly view gives the user a quick glimpse of the classes that were planned. For me this was a much more comprehensive view of what I was teaching for that month. It is much easier to make modifications to the classes when looking at the monthly view. Teachers, during collaboration, can make modifications to their lessons together.

One feature that is crucial for teachers is SMARTNOTE. This allows the user to make any notes pertinent to the class. There can be more than one SMARTNOTE on a day. For teachers (or administrators) who make constant notes as they sit at the computer, this is an invaluable tool. I am constantly making notes and it is much easier for me to type rather than to write notes on little pieces of paper and forgetting where they are. This is also great for teachers when they collaborate. They may have individual ideas that need to be jotted down and referred to later.

The Long Plan allows the user to type in the objectives, overview, modifications and materials and assessments needed for the lesson. This is everything I would expect a teacher to have in their lesson plans.

The standards feature is probably my favorite feature of this website. It allows you to select the standard for the subject, grade level and indicators for your lessons. The resources feature was not one of my favorite ones because of loading things onto the website from the teachers' own computer. This might lead to some copyright issues. It might be something the user might want to use with caution.

Other features of smartDESKTOP are: calendar, instruction, curriculum, assessment, collaborations, communities, reports and tools. I would recomend this site for schools to use with their teachers.


National Educational Technology Standards for Students

I consider my teachers my students also, so I felt the following standard applied to them.

Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts or others employing a variety of digital
environments and media.
b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats.
c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures.
d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

Tech Leader Assessment

I have been having fun with this assignment. I visited a new website: enGauge: http://www.ncrel.org/engauge

This website assesses a school/district's technology readiness. Here is what I worte in my discussion post for my class:


This survey was eye-opening for me! Our district is the second largest in the state and yet as I was answering questions about the different uses of technology I realized the differences in the technology available from building to building. Each of our schools have a technology budget and use it for varying things. Not every building has a computer lab, a fact I found out when I came to my new building. Computers in the classroom are a wonderful thing, but there are times when students need to be working together in a lab setting.

I found the questions on the use of technology based on gender, race and SES status to be very interesting. I have found in our Title I buildings more technology money is available for use. I have never thought to monitor the use of computers by the three categories above, but that might be an interesting issue to investigate, especially without the use of a computer lab.

This survey is something every district or school should use. It can help a school or district to begin to formulate a technology curriculum or focus. A very useful website.



There were other websites to visit that were given to our class. They are:

http://mytarget.iassessment.com - My Target

http://www.bsu.edu/edtec/nets/profile-it - Profile iT


Thanks!

Student Information Systems

The latest module our class worked on is Student Information Systems. It was interesting to read about the different systems that other districs are using. It was also interesting to hear about systems being used in the business community. One of my classmates, Karen, works in the business field and had some different operating systems that were geared more toward employees than students. They were:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetWeaver - This link gives the definistion of NetWeaver, which she discribes as a tool used for training employees.

http://www.pedagogue.com/ - This link goes to Pedagogue, which is used to train employees.

These would be worth exploring for professional development purposes for shool districts.

At Ball State we use Blackboard for course work and various other information.

Moodle - http://moodle.org - is a course management system - a free Open Source software package designed using pedagogical principles to help educators create effective online learing communities. This site is definitely something districts need to explore.

Rubrics

The next assignment in our class is rubrics. I have created a rubric on the Ball State website, but it can only be accessed by Ball State students. Rubrics are a good way to help define criteion for assignments. I used mine to define critera for successful collaboration.

There are many different rubric websites and resources out ther. In one of my other classes this fall, I read an article on rubrics that listed several resouces. Some of them are:

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/

http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/rubrics/

http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=7&n=3

These are great resources teachers should check out!

NCLB and Data Collection

One of the subjects in a class I am taking is how data collection relates to NCLB. There is a great article on this subject: EDUCATION DATA MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE. Significan Progress Made, but Better Planning Needed to Accomplish Project Goals. This article can be found here: http://www.gao.gov/new.item/d066.pdf

Synopsis

I read with interest the article that discusses the Performance Based Data Management Intiative (PBDMI) to improve educational data collection from the states. PBDMI is designed to help elementary and secondary school monitor the performances of their students through relevant data collection and a more precise way of evaluating their educational programs. Table 2 (p. 17) outlines the steps that PBDMI would take to streamline data collection. They include: Site Visits, PDBMI participation grants and technical assistance. I think this could be a great tool for schools as they struggle to meet the requirement of NCLB. At times, school struggle as to what kind and how much data to collect to help them make the necesssry changes to instruction so it leads to student achievement.

Relevant Links

These are links to other sites and articles that are relevant to this topic. Enjoy reading!

This link comes from a Time.CNN article on what the state of Nebraska is doing to meet the demands of NCLB. It comes courtesy of Karen from BSU.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0.8599.1626423.00.html

Kithaven Connections provided this link to a blog in India that sounded very similar to NCLB. Do you agree? Let me know.

http://www.amarkumar.net/

Welcome!

Hi! Welcome to my blog. This is my first time creating a blog online, so please bear with me while I continue to weave my way through the process.

Purpose

The purpose of this blog isto give readers links to resources in the field of educational technology. There are many great resources out there and I hope to provide some idea of where to go to find relevant information. My hope is that my readers will find the information helpful to them.