Media 21: Initial Comprehensive Report
For some reason I found this article really annoying. I will do my best to articulate why, but I am not sure if I will succeed. The information was good. The organization was decent. But it didn't flow. I prefer stories, not technical documents. I thought this was an attempt at creating a somewhat technical document that used way too many bullet points, lots of jargon and software I was unfamiliar with, and incredibly dry language. I did like the inclusion of the student and teacher comments. Without that I wouldn't have made it through...
No, Never Alone
Not sure what a 'Ning' is. Never heard of the term before. I can identify with the idea that there are so many tools and possibilities out there now that it makes it difficult to decide which ones to use, and due to that overwhelming feeling, just choose nothing.
Who's Cheating Whom?
I like this article because I find it challenging. I am not sure that I agree with the author in regards to physics. Perhaps that is because the physics classes I have taken pretty much all employed these multiple choice tests. The reason why I disagree is because in order to get a good grade on a well-designed multiple choice test the student does in fact need a good understanding of the particular area of physics being tested. I know this because I went through it. My lower test scores reflected less understanding on my part. Directly. So I believe this is an accurate assessment of understanding. I also enjoyed knowing exactly how I would be graded and what specific material I needed to master. This clear-cut approach helped in motivating me to study, along with the competitive nature of the exams.
Enhance Your Twitter Experience
"You can spend hours or days lurking without tweeting anything." Does anyone else find this creepy? I know my opinion is not terribly valid because I haven't tried Twitter, but I don't like it. At all. Not only does the name sound incredibly lame, but the whole idea just rubs me the wrong way. I can see the point in something like Facebook, but I don't get this. It just seems silly, and I am not persuaded by the article. I am all for brevity and succinctness, but this is a bit much. It feels like death to the English language...
You've got lots of great ideas here, and I will be interested in what you think of our guest speakers "in person" (via the Web, anyway) versus the report.
ReplyDeleteAs I read your story of physics testing, I wondered ... a low score can be an accurate indicator of low understanding. Is a high score always an indicator of high understanding? Or am I just being contrary? :)
I read the sentence, "You can spend hours or days lurking without tweeting anything," and immediately thought this: is this an endorsement for stalking? That might be the creepiest thing I've read in an educational article. I'm glad somebody else had similar thought because that's just weird.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am in total support of your "death to the English language" portion. Students can't distinguish the difference of when to use text speak and English. I worked at a school for the past year, and during one class period in November, I helped a girl put together an autobiographical PowerPoint. I was appalled at her grammar, and this girl was in the 8th grade. Her last slide said verbatim, "this is whut i do. erebody stay sweet, and imma be me." I literally cringed when I read that.
Agreed. Twitter is like open stalking but not only that, its people letting themselves me stalked. I'm not a big fan myself, but looks like we will give it a shot and see how helpful it may be in the classroom. Skeptical nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteAnd the article on cheating was interesting. There is still validity in multiple choice type tests in my opinion, but maybe we should encourage people to take advantage of their resources around them in other ways rather than promoting pure memorization.