Podcast

Reading Strategy:

How to use the table of contents.

Possible Podcast Topic

For my podcast project I'm thinking about doing a short video clip on teaching a reading strategy. Keep in mind this would be a lesson for second graders. Through this podcast I can develop some teaching techniques while also keeping in mind certain guidelines learned through the "TPACK" article. This project will be both fun and hard because I'll need to have a well-developed lesson plan crammed it into 2-3 minutes, adhering to specific learning guidelines.

I wish you all luck on your projects and I can't wait to hear/ see what you guys prepared!

Response to "Techniques That Reduce Extraneous Cognitve Load and Manage Instrinsic Cognitive Load during Multimedia Learning"

I still remember back in elementary school, when the teacher would have us turn on our computers and learn through some kind of multimedia. To me there was no science to it, back then or now. After reading the article I realized that through research and effective way was established so that multimedia can be effective. There is a specific way our brain works and through research these methods where compacted into a effective way. A lot of the things mentioned in the article surprised me: 

• The Coherence Principle
• I was surprised to learn that adding a video or sounds to a specific lesson will not enhance students learning. Research showed that noise, environmental sound and music was a hindrance instead of an aid to the students learning. I asked myself, how can this be true? Then it was explained that the coherence principle works because cognitive processing is limited and the absence of  extraneous sound would be one less cognitive process, thus it would lead to a better learning experience.

• The Redundancy Principal

• I was also shocked to learn that on-screen text also creates extraneous processing. I would've thought that on-screen text, such as captions would aid in ones learning, but instead it doesn't. The reasoning behind The Redundancy Principal is that the caption and the voice provide two incoming verbal streams. When the text are removed it provides and frees up cognitive capacity. 

• The Signaling Principle
• After reading about the Redundancy Principal I figured that underlining things, putting tittles on things, or "signals" on things would also be a negative approach to multimedia learning.  Again I was proven wrong when I learned that through this signaling it would point learners towards essential material and lead to meaningful learning outcomes. 

"Introducing TCPK" Response paper

Technology today has evolved into one of the most essential tools in our modern society. It is used in many different shapes and forms. Over the years technology has transitioned into a primary tool in education. Many teachers are now relying on technology to assist in their difficult task of education children. In the article, Introducing TCPK by Matthew J. Koehler Punya Mishra the argument of introducing TCPK has a baseline framework for teachers to use in order to successfully integrate technology in everyday classrooms. There are many advantages and disadvantages in the aspect of incorporating technology in the process of educating.

As stated in the article, “There are social and institutional contexts that are unsupportive of teachers' efforts to integrate technology. Teachers have often been provided with inadequate training for this task” (3). Not everyone today is trained to use the internet, power point, excel or how to create a resume. The fact that technology is unstable and is constantly changing also presents a disadvantage to teachers since they will be forced to keep up with the new updated software’s and changes that occur throughout the years. Not only is technology constantly going through make over’s, but it was created for the corporate world which makes extremely difficult to somehow transform its purpose into education.

Koehler and Mishra state that, “creative uses of technology require us to go beyond this ‘functional fixedness’ so that we can innovatively repurpose existing tools toward pedagogical ends” (6). As the authors stated technology was made with its purpose, teachers can use technology in a different way by using it as a median for creativity such as writing and art. Teachers can positively use technology to educate their students in a more fun or interesting way such as creating shorts power point presentations on historical events. Math teachers can present graphs and symbols to their students to help them develop the material.

This article brings up many great points such as,” it is important to distinguish between affordances and constraints of a technology” (5).Technology truly has its ways in which we may interact with it but it also has his limits. Teachers will have to be multitasked and find sufficient ways in getting her lessons plans across through without having their students distracted with all the colors and computer monitors. One aspect that intrigued me was the way the author described teaching as, “a classical example of an ill-structured discipline” (4). When one thinks of educating and teaching overall, one might imagine it as very structured.  Due to the fact that in order to teach one must have a curriculum, syllabi and most importantly a lesson plan. Koehler and Mishra believe otherwise by stating ‘teaching involves many different conceptual structures and perspectives that play out in a novel and unique way” (4). The fact that the structures play out in a “novel” way points out that in reality it isn’t well structured due to the outcome that can not be predicted.

 TCPK has an interesting correlation with education, beginning with the letter (T) in their model which stands for teaching technology. (TP) refers to the tools that are at our disposable to help teachers educate more efficiently. (CT) reasonably determines the connection between technology and its display of material. (TPC) a very important aspect is the skill of using technology to help students learn specific topics. Lastly (C) which signifies program content and (P) which are educational skills. Together these letters form the technological development known as TCPK. Overall technology is very important for our generation and the generations to come. Education relies on technology and technology relies on education, it is a correlation that will help educators prepare children for the modern world to come.

Welcome to CSCI 1115

Welcome to CSCI 1115