Technology Standards & Internet Inquiry

            When reading the Maryland Teacher Technology Standards the three that stand out as the most important with regards to the teaching of students are 1, 2, & 5:

1: Information access, evaluation, processing, and application

2: Communication

5: Integrating technology into the curriculum and instruction

I think that the philosophy that I want to use in my classroom is to have the process of learning and content that I want to cover be done through the appropriate use of technology, and not to use a new digital tool just for the sake of using it. With that in mind there are several key skills that students will need to learn. First, they must be able to ask questions that pertain to a particular topic or unit that we are covering. After that, students must be able to gather information that relates to their question. During this phase they must be able to alter and adapt their question based on what they find.

            Students then must have the skills to use the information to answer the question, and then present it in a meaningful way to other people. At every step of this process, there is a technological tool that can help students achieve this. The technology project that I liked the best from our readings is the internet inquiry. This encapsulated the steps that I just laid out in a clear way so that students can answer their questions about a topic.

            The process of going through an internet inquiry requires students be able to find, evaluate, and apply information so that MTTS #1 is being meet. If the students present their findings to others in a meaningful way, they are meeting MTTS #2. The main emphasis as a teacher it so provide several technological tools that they can use along each step of the process.

            The first thing that students need to do in an Internet Inquiry is to brainstorm out questions. There are many digital tools that can help with this process that are accessible through a simple internet search (http://mashable.com/2013/09/25/mind-mapping-tools/#eh_EvOrj8Gqq). I would want students to have a well rounded perspective on technological tools and be able to compare the process to an analog method. To do this I would have students brainstorm using a pen and paper method or some less tech method.

            Next, students search or gather information to answer their questions. This can be done through using any of the internet search engines (google, yahoo, bing, etc). I would also want to expose the students to specialized search engines that are based upon a particular topic. I will be teaching a human anatomy & physiology class and want the students to be well versed in PubMed by the time they finish the class. Pubmed is a biomedical literature collection that indexes many major scientific journals. While this would provide many high level texts for the students to read, it is a resource that they need to be able to access as they progress in the life sciences. As a component of the information gathering process, I want students to be able to refine their questions based on the information they have found. While this is not part of a technology project, it is important for them to be able to do as students.

            Next students will analyze the information and put it together in such a way that it can be presented to others. There are many tools that can be used to cooperate on a group presentation. Email and google docs are simple ways to do this online, but also in class use of a word processing software and or presentation application could also accomplish this. Students can choose to present using other means such as videos on youtube, running slide shows, animations, VoiceThreads, etc. This is an area where giving students choices may help them.

            Technology integration is difficult of me as a teacher because so much of it is new. My perspective is to try and give students a sampling of the options they have to help them create and answer questions, keeping in mind that the technology landscape is every changing. Their ability to adapt and creatively use their resources is the most important aspect.