Comments on: Information Technology Syllabus http://jasontbedell.com/information-technology-syllabus Making Connections for Learning Thu, 10 May 2012 09:10:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jason Bedell http://jasontbedell.com/information-technology-syllabus/comment-page-1#comment-892 Jason Bedell Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:44:51 +0000 http://jasontbedell.com/?p=646#comment-892 Keith, You are right to be skeptical, but there are two things to keep in mind. First, your curriculum has been crippled (Keith and I taught in the same school last year). There is absolutely no reason kids need that long to learn Office. Second, I think you may be underestimating kids. They often live up to our expectations of them and I want to set that bar high. Scratch is actually a programming language for kids that resembles building a puzzle. A Twitter friend, @Matt_Arguello, uses Scratch successfully with 4th and 5th graders. As for building websites, they already do this and have learned much through play. Have you even see a kid manipulate or change his/her MySpace page? It requires HTML. It may end up being too much for one year. We have to go by our kids. I will see how they adapt and continually reassess. If someone is not able to learn everything that someone else is, that is ok. It's at the heart of differentiated instruction. Every child is different, with a different staring point and capacity in a given subject. The only real commonality is that they can learn <strong>something</something>. I will not be giving the same assignment to every kid. Often, 30 students will be working on 30 different, but related, things or 5 groups will be working on 5 different things. I care that all kids learn and grow; it is less important to me that they all get to the same end point. However, by focusing on their learning, we will likely be able to push them further than would otherwise have been able to. Keith,
You are right to be skeptical, but there are two things to keep in mind. First, your curriculum has been crippled (Keith and I taught in the same school last year). There is absolutely no reason kids need that long to learn Office. Second, I think you may be underestimating kids. They often live up to our expectations of them and I want to set that bar high.
Scratch is actually a programming language for kids that resembles building a puzzle. A Twitter friend, @Matt_Arguello, uses Scratch successfully with 4th and 5th graders. As for building websites, they already do this and have learned much through play. Have you even see a kid manipulate or change his/her MySpace page? It requires HTML.
It may end up being too much for one year. We have to go by our kids. I will see how they adapt and continually reassess. If someone is not able to learn everything that someone else is, that is ok. It’s at the heart of differentiated instruction. Every child is different, with a different staring point and capacity in a given subject. The only real commonality is that they can learn something. I will not be giving the same assignment to every kid. Often, 30 students will be working on 30 different, but related, things or 5 groups will be working on 5 different things. I care that all kids learn and grow; it is less important to me that they all get to the same end point. However, by focusing on their learning, we will likely be able to push them further than would otherwise have been able to.

]]> By: Keith Wadley http://jasontbedell.com/information-technology-syllabus/comment-page-1#comment-886 Keith Wadley Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:44:11 +0000 http://jasontbedell.com/?p=646#comment-886 Hey Jason, Very intriguing, 6th graders doing programming and writing their own Websites. Here is my frustration with public education. You are going to have some students who seriously cannot do these things. The concepts are going to be too far beyond them at this point in their life. While others will have enough of a conceptual background in Math and English to grasp it and move forward. It will indeed sharpen both of those subjects. What are you going to do with those who are not there? Very interesting on the grading. I can't stand our current system as it is. In the military it was "go" or "no go". Either you could do the skill or you couldn't, there was no part way. If you couldn't complete the task then you had not mastered it. You knew what you needed to work on to move forward. Sure, the goal is to have every student master as much as possible. But not everyone will fall in love with what you are doing or some learning disability has been breed into them with an "I can't" attitude. I am curious to see how the class goes for you. It sounds like too much for one year but you are amazing with technology. I haven't seen you work with students otherwise I could comment on that. Regards, Keith Wadley Hey Jason,

Very intriguing, 6th graders doing programming and writing their own Websites. Here is my frustration with public education. You are going to have some students who seriously cannot do these things. The concepts are going to be too far beyond them at this point in their life. While others will have enough of a conceptual background in Math and English to grasp it and move forward. It will indeed sharpen both of those subjects. What are you going to do with those who are not there?

Very interesting on the grading. I can’t stand our current system as it is. In the military it was “go” or “no go”. Either you could do the skill or you couldn’t, there was no part way. If you couldn’t complete the task then you had not mastered it. You knew what you needed to work on to move forward. Sure, the goal is to have every student master as much as possible. But not everyone will fall in love with what you are doing or some learning disability has been breed into them with an “I can’t” attitude.

I am curious to see how the class goes for you. It sounds like too much for one year but you are amazing with technology. I haven’t seen you work with students otherwise I could comment on that.

Regards,

Keith Wadley

]]> By: Alfonso Gonzalez http://jasontbedell.com/information-technology-syllabus/comment-page-1#comment-844 Alfonso Gonzalez Mon, 19 Jul 2010 08:06:16 +0000 http://jasontbedell.com/?p=646#comment-844 Hi Jason, Thanks for posting your syllabus. It sounds great and sounds like a class I would be happy to have both my kids in! You've also given me some ideas as I've been putting off writing my course syllabi for the Fall. Going grade-less has made that syllabi really important as it will set the tone for the whole year! One question I have for you is what will your "grades" or feedback look like? Do they have to be letters or numbers or do you have some leeway? I try not to give any marks until midterm or final reporting as per our school policy and then I've started just giving P's for pass to everyone who participates in my course knowing that there is no such think as failure. Now I need to express that in such a way that will not send the message that my class is not important or something that they can "blow off." That's why I'm putting off writing my syllabus! :) Good luck to you, with the new class and the grant! Hi Jason,

Thanks for posting your syllabus. It sounds great and sounds like a class I would be happy to have both my kids in! You’ve also given me some ideas as I’ve been putting off writing my course syllabi for the Fall. Going grade-less has made that syllabi really important as it will set the tone for the whole year!

One question I have for you is what will your “grades” or feedback look like? Do they have to be letters or numbers or do you have some leeway? I try not to give any marks until midterm or final reporting as per our school policy and then I’ve started just giving P’s for pass to everyone who participates in my course knowing that there is no such think as failure. Now I need to express that in such a way that will not send the message that my class is not important or something that they can “blow off.”

That’s why I’m putting off writing my syllabus! :)

Good luck to you, with the new class and the grant!

]]> By: Barbara Lindsey http://jasontbedell.com/information-technology-syllabus/comment-page-1#comment-842 Barbara Lindsey Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:49:57 +0000 http://jasontbedell.com/?p=646#comment-842 Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful, clear description of the goals, objectives and assessments you will use with your students, Jason. We need more published examples of educators willing and able to implement a mastery learning model in their curriculum. Your syllabus reminds me of the <a href="http://vimeo.com/3930740" rel="nofollow">Mobile Learning Institute interview with Alan November</a>. You've taken many of the pedagogical arguments voiced in this interview and put them into practice with your course. I hope you can share updates with us on how your students, their parents and your colleagues receive your evaluation method and rationale. Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful, clear description of the goals, objectives and assessments you will use with your students, Jason.

We need more published examples of educators willing and able to implement a mastery learning model in their curriculum. Your syllabus reminds me of the Mobile Learning Institute interview with Alan November. You’ve taken many of the pedagogical arguments voiced in this interview and put them into practice with your course.

I hope you can share updates with us on how your students, their parents and your colleagues receive your evaluation method and rationale.
Barbara Lindsey´s last [type] ..cAsTa Ways- An Interview with Travis Allen

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