T.H.E. Journal online seems to be a good source of information in the area of utilizing technology in schools. For this reflection I will focus on the layout and aesthetics of the website. In checking out the site I can say that it is fairly easy to navigate with a menu bar at the top with the numerous features the online journal has to offer. The color scheme makes the text easy to read. The site is laid out well and does not seem cluttered or confusing. The main purpose of the website appears to be a holding place for articles either pulled from the print journal or written specifically for the online journal. There are other features as well, but I will discuss these in future reflections.
There are a few choices as far as the different articles are concerned. In the top menu bar there are options including K-12 News, Feature pieces, and Viewpoint articles. I perused the list of articles in each of these three sections and had difficulty understanding what made an article a K-12 News, Feature, or Viewpoint item. I would guess that Viewpoint articles are written and submitted by people not employed by T.H.E. Journal, but I have yet to see any evidence that this is true.
Directly beneath the menu bar are more featured articles, the most popular articles, and the most emailed articles. I found it interesting that the most popular articles were very similar to the most emailed articles, but none of them were the featured articles. Perhaps this is because the featured articles have not been available long enough to have the views of older articles.
Aside from the top menu and features, the majority of the homepage has articles separated into other categories such as Focus on IT, Focus on Classroom Technology, Our Space, News and Briefs, and Features. This is nice as it shows the newest or more popular writings. What I found odd was that a few articles were listed in more than one category. It seemed to me like a waste of space having an article Sony’s new video conferencing system in the Focus on Classroom Technology, Our Space, and News and Briefs sections at the same time. I think the site would be better served to remove two of those links and add one that is not already mentioned on the page. Being a technology focused site there are links to a dozen social network and blog sites on which to share the article links. There is also a biweekly poll at the bottom of the page. Readers can vote and see what their fellow educational technology buffs think of a particular question. It is an easy way to get an idea of other people in the field’s view on an issue.
One great feature that, in my brief exploration of the site, seems often underutilized is the comments section available at the end of each article. Of the twenty or so articles that I opened and looked through, only a hand full had any comments. The few that did have comments only had two or three. I do not know what the cause of this is. I can think of two reasons, either they do not get a large number of readers or the readers do not want to take the time to discuss the articles. I did find it interesting that the copyright at the bottom of the page has not been updated to 2010, but there are articles from this year.
On a final note, there seems to be a good amount of advertisement on the site. Every time I go to the home page a giant Dell ad pops up on the screen blocking the text. While it is easy enough to close the ad, it is still annoying to have to deal with it every time I go back to the home page from an article.
T.H.E. Journal Webinars
In my previous personal reflection I reviewed the T.H.E. Journal. The first reflection focused on the aesthetics, layout, and usability of T.H.E. Journal. This, along with future reflections, will focus more on the individual features, specifically those found under the Resources tab. These resources include Webinars, White Papers, Learning Centers, and Professional Development in Technology. Each resource appears to be relevant to the journal’s focus of technology in education.
The first resource I explored was the Webinars. I noticed that, aside from having a link under the Resources tab there is also a Webinars tab on the top menu. Interestingly each brought me to a different page. After some investigating I came to the realization that the individual tab on the main page led to the ten most recent productions, including the next scheduled Webinar. The link under the Resources tab, on the other hand, is more of an archive of older Webinars dating back to February, 2008. It appears that a one hour T.H.E. Journal Webinar is posted every month.
I listened to parts of a few different productions and was impressed by the high quality of the audio. Something else I really liked was the text and graphic slides presented along with the audio. The slides synched with the audio well and seemed to add quite a bit to the Webinar as a whole. The slides could be downloaded for future reference or shared with others. This could be a great way to share the information with fellow educators and librarians. Another feature I thought was helpful was the ability to skip to any part of the presentation with little more than a few second loading delay. I would find that very useful if, for example, someone wanted to listen to the Webinar in parts or wanted to hear a certain piece again. For example, I could see a school librarian or teacher using part of one of the Webinars for staff training.
One of the first things I noticed when I first opened the Webinar page is that each of the webinars is sponsored by a big name technology company including Sony, Cisco, Lenovo, Dell, and others. The topic of the majority of these Webinars relates to the use of technology in the classroom so I suppose it makes sense to have the support of a tech company. However, due to the corporate sponsorship I was weary that the speakers or editors would be biased toward certain products or ideas based on where the money comes from. In the bits that I hear, this did not seem to be the case.
I was also annoyed, although not totally surprised, that the actual intended discussion did not begin until five or six minutes into the presentation. The first five minutes was used for promotion of T.H.E. Journal and the sponsoring company. I suppose that is understandable as the majority of the users will be educators or school staffs. All in all I would say the Webinars are a great resource, especially for new school librarians or school faculty members who are less familiar with educational technology. I would definitely recommend using these webinars as a resource for finding new products and strategies to use in the school library.
The first resource I explored was the Webinars. I noticed that, aside from having a link under the Resources tab there is also a Webinars tab on the top menu. Interestingly each brought me to a different page. After some investigating I came to the realization that the individual tab on the main page led to the ten most recent productions, including the next scheduled Webinar. The link under the Resources tab, on the other hand, is more of an archive of older Webinars dating back to February, 2008. It appears that a one hour T.H.E. Journal Webinar is posted every month.
I listened to parts of a few different productions and was impressed by the high quality of the audio. Something else I really liked was the text and graphic slides presented along with the audio. The slides synched with the audio well and seemed to add quite a bit to the Webinar as a whole. The slides could be downloaded for future reference or shared with others. This could be a great way to share the information with fellow educators and librarians. Another feature I thought was helpful was the ability to skip to any part of the presentation with little more than a few second loading delay. I would find that very useful if, for example, someone wanted to listen to the Webinar in parts or wanted to hear a certain piece again. For example, I could see a school librarian or teacher using part of one of the Webinars for staff training.
One of the first things I noticed when I first opened the Webinar page is that each of the webinars is sponsored by a big name technology company including Sony, Cisco, Lenovo, Dell, and others. The topic of the majority of these Webinars relates to the use of technology in the classroom so I suppose it makes sense to have the support of a tech company. However, due to the corporate sponsorship I was weary that the speakers or editors would be biased toward certain products or ideas based on where the money comes from. In the bits that I hear, this did not seem to be the case.
I was also annoyed, although not totally surprised, that the actual intended discussion did not begin until five or six minutes into the presentation. The first five minutes was used for promotion of T.H.E. Journal and the sponsoring company. I suppose that is understandable as the majority of the users will be educators or school staffs. All in all I would say the Webinars are a great resource, especially for new school librarians or school faculty members who are less familiar with educational technology. I would definitely recommend using these webinars as a resource for finding new products and strategies to use in the school library.
T.H.E. Journal: White Papers
As I have discussed in the previous personal reflection on the online version of Technical Horizons in Education Journal, they have many resources available. In the past reflection I reviewed the journal’s webinars. While a bit commercial at times, I believe the webinars can be a very helpful resource for school librarians as well as teachers and administrators. This reflection, on the other hand, will focus on a resource called White Papers.
From what I can tell from looking through the resource, the White Papers are a series of downloadable case studies. There are five case studies available, four of which are from August of last year. Each case study contains an overview of a particular school district in the United States, specifically where they are technologically. Following the overview, a technological challenge the school faces is discussed. For example, the rather small tech staff at Lincoln County School District #2 in Wyoming was trying to figure out how to efficiently protect all of their schools’ computers. The problem was that they were using both Macs and PCs and could not find a program that worked on both platforms. The White Papers then offer a possible solution to the problem. They wrap up the case study with a short conclusion, summing up the main issues and resolutions.
At first I thought this would be a fantastic resource as it gives solutions to typical technology problems that a school district might face. However, when I reached the very end of the page I came to the realization that each White Papers case study is nothing more than an advertisement for some tech company. For example, the Lincoln County cast study is sponsored by Lightspeed Systems. They even go as far as to include contact information and a list of their services.
As I mentioned in my last reflection, the T.H.E. Journal webinars also had sponsorship, but it was not as blatant as it is in the White Papers. Normally this would not surprise me, nor would I care much what they did. However, I was very disappointed when I read the most recent case study. This report talks about a school district in Warren County, Tennessee. In 2008, that area was hit by a tornado which ripped up trees and knocked out power and phone lines. The school district had issues because they were unable to establish communication between schools and the district offices.
Generally, this would be a compelling story. However, the story quickly turned into a commercial for installing MOTOTRBO Control Stations on all schools. It seemed to me as I read through the case study that Motorola was taking advantage of a devastating natural disaster in order to sell product. The way I interpreted it was that they are using a horrible situation to scare school districts into buying digital walkie-talkies. This was probably not their intent, but that is how it came off to me. Perhaps I would not be so perturbed by this if it were not for the fact that I live only a few miles from Motorola’s headquarters in Schaumburg. I found it disappointing that a company that employs a good number of people in my community would do this. In my opinion, the White Papers section undermines the integrity of the remainder of T.H.E. Journal. At the very least, it should be moved out of the list of resources and into the Marketing section.
From what I can tell from looking through the resource, the White Papers are a series of downloadable case studies. There are five case studies available, four of which are from August of last year. Each case study contains an overview of a particular school district in the United States, specifically where they are technologically. Following the overview, a technological challenge the school faces is discussed. For example, the rather small tech staff at Lincoln County School District #2 in Wyoming was trying to figure out how to efficiently protect all of their schools’ computers. The problem was that they were using both Macs and PCs and could not find a program that worked on both platforms. The White Papers then offer a possible solution to the problem. They wrap up the case study with a short conclusion, summing up the main issues and resolutions.
At first I thought this would be a fantastic resource as it gives solutions to typical technology problems that a school district might face. However, when I reached the very end of the page I came to the realization that each White Papers case study is nothing more than an advertisement for some tech company. For example, the Lincoln County cast study is sponsored by Lightspeed Systems. They even go as far as to include contact information and a list of their services.
As I mentioned in my last reflection, the T.H.E. Journal webinars also had sponsorship, but it was not as blatant as it is in the White Papers. Normally this would not surprise me, nor would I care much what they did. However, I was very disappointed when I read the most recent case study. This report talks about a school district in Warren County, Tennessee. In 2008, that area was hit by a tornado which ripped up trees and knocked out power and phone lines. The school district had issues because they were unable to establish communication between schools and the district offices.
Generally, this would be a compelling story. However, the story quickly turned into a commercial for installing MOTOTRBO Control Stations on all schools. It seemed to me as I read through the case study that Motorola was taking advantage of a devastating natural disaster in order to sell product. The way I interpreted it was that they are using a horrible situation to scare school districts into buying digital walkie-talkies. This was probably not their intent, but that is how it came off to me. Perhaps I would not be so perturbed by this if it were not for the fact that I live only a few miles from Motorola’s headquarters in Schaumburg. I found it disappointing that a company that employs a good number of people in my community would do this. In my opinion, the White Papers section undermines the integrity of the remainder of T.H.E. Journal. At the very least, it should be moved out of the list of resources and into the Marketing section.
THE Journal: Professional Development for Technology Educators
For this reflection I chose to look at the In Print section of T.H.E. Journal online. This section allows reader to see a digital version of the print journal. The articles are listed in the order in which they appear in the print version. The top article is the cover story. Following that are featured articles, THE department articles, and other articles from the print journal. On the main In Print page you can see the title of the articles, a picture, the author, and a brief summary. By clicking on the title, you are linked to the full text of the article. At the bottom of the full text they have listed the issue in which this article was printed. I could see this being useful if you were linked to the article without knowing where it came from. These articles are often posted on blogs, social networking sites, and bibliographies. If this is the case, you could link to the T.H.E. Journal website to see the full issue, or find other related articles. There is a box at the bottom each article in which to make comments.
If you prefer the format of the print version, but do not want a physical copy, you can view the T.H.E. Journal Digital Edition. This digital edition is more than text on the screen. It has a ton of incredible features including a zoom tool for those who might have vision problems. As you flip through the pages of the digital journal, you have the option to click certain places to be linked to other places. From the contents page, you can click on each article title and be taken to that article in the digital edition. Also, you can click on the advertisement pages and be linked to that company’s website. This is a really nice feature, but it also means there are giant advertisements every couple of pages. Along the side of the journal, there is a tool bar that gives you the option to bookmark, print, email, take notes, and make comments. This is a great way to share parts of the journal without forcing another person to search through the entire journal. Archived digital issues can be viewed as well. The only issue I had was that at times there was a delay when flipping to other pages.
When I first investigated this site at the start of the semester, I did not really look at the In Print section. I figured it was only there to get people to pay for the print version of the journal. Turns out I was wrong on many levels. For starters, the print version of T.H.E. Journal is free for educators or anyone willing to stretch the truth and pretend to be an educator. It seems that the online journal makes enough money through advertising that they can offer the print journal for free. You can also sign up to receive an email version if you do not want the paper copy. I see this as a major advantage for teachers and librarians who otherwise would not spend the money for a subscription. If you do not want a full subscription, you can sign up to receive an email newsletter that highlights articles and features of the site.
If you prefer the format of the print version, but do not want a physical copy, you can view the T.H.E. Journal Digital Edition. This digital edition is more than text on the screen. It has a ton of incredible features including a zoom tool for those who might have vision problems. As you flip through the pages of the digital journal, you have the option to click certain places to be linked to other places. From the contents page, you can click on each article title and be taken to that article in the digital edition. Also, you can click on the advertisement pages and be linked to that company’s website. This is a really nice feature, but it also means there are giant advertisements every couple of pages. Along the side of the journal, there is a tool bar that gives you the option to bookmark, print, email, take notes, and make comments. This is a great way to share parts of the journal without forcing another person to search through the entire journal. Archived digital issues can be viewed as well. The only issue I had was that at times there was a delay when flipping to other pages.
When I first investigated this site at the start of the semester, I did not really look at the In Print section. I figured it was only there to get people to pay for the print version of the journal. Turns out I was wrong on many levels. For starters, the print version of T.H.E. Journal is free for educators or anyone willing to stretch the truth and pretend to be an educator. It seems that the online journal makes enough money through advertising that they can offer the print journal for free. You can also sign up to receive an email version if you do not want the paper copy. I see this as a major advantage for teachers and librarians who otherwise would not spend the money for a subscription. If you do not want a full subscription, you can sign up to receive an email newsletter that highlights articles and features of the site.
AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner
For this final personal reflection I will be examining the AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learner. Coming from an education background, I am no stranger to standards. I probably have back problems caused by hauling my Illinois Learning Standards binder around for four years at Illinois State University. My experience in the classroom, although brief, has taught me that while the Illinois Learning Standards are great for academics, they lack in other areas. The Standards for the 21st Century Learner are not perfect, but I feel that they at least expand their focus beyond the core subjects.
The obvious difference that I noticed was the visual design. Standards for the 21st Century Learner is much more aesthetically pleasing than the drab Illinois Learning Standards. While the content is similar in style, I found the 21st century standards easier to read and follow. The colors in Standards for the 21st Century Learner also adds to this. After looking at the Illinois Learning Standards for a few minutes I start to get a headache due to the black and white grid design.
Aside from the look of Standards for the 21st Century Learner, I find that the content is much more rounded. While most state standards focus primarily on academics, the AASL standards go beyond what is printed in the text books. Because they are put out by the American Association of School Librarians, the standards are more literacy focused. The Illinois Learning Standards do briefly mention using technology, but it is not a main focus. Standards for the 21st Century Learner ties nearly all standards and benchmarks into technology. In the current world in which we live, learning how to use technology is very important.
What really stands out to me more than the literacy and technology standards are the more personal and social benchmarks in Standards for the 21st Century Learner. The skills section is fairly similar to the state standards. However, the addition of disposition, responsibilities, and self –assessment strategies are, in my opinion, a major necessity. I suppose, as educators, our first duty is to impart skills and knowledge. That being said, I strongly believe we should also make it a goal to teach students how to think critically and creatively, using a multitude of resources in the process.
I also really like that the AASL included responsibilities to the standards and benchmarks. When I was in grade school, my teachers always mentioned copyright when we were doing research. Unfortunately it ended there. It would have been very beneficial to study copyright a little more in depth so we understood the key points. I found that my teachers really never really went through finding credible sources or the proper way to use information technology. Granted we did not have to worry about identity theft, cyber bullying, and the other issues that are present today. However, it would have been great to learn how to use technology responsibly. Although the AASL standards better than the Illinois Learning Standards, they are not perfect, nor will they ever be. Technology and teaching fads change so rapidly it would be nearly impossible to keep up with them. I do believe Standards for the 21st Century Learner is a step in the right direction.
The obvious difference that I noticed was the visual design. Standards for the 21st Century Learner is much more aesthetically pleasing than the drab Illinois Learning Standards. While the content is similar in style, I found the 21st century standards easier to read and follow. The colors in Standards for the 21st Century Learner also adds to this. After looking at the Illinois Learning Standards for a few minutes I start to get a headache due to the black and white grid design.
Aside from the look of Standards for the 21st Century Learner, I find that the content is much more rounded. While most state standards focus primarily on academics, the AASL standards go beyond what is printed in the text books. Because they are put out by the American Association of School Librarians, the standards are more literacy focused. The Illinois Learning Standards do briefly mention using technology, but it is not a main focus. Standards for the 21st Century Learner ties nearly all standards and benchmarks into technology. In the current world in which we live, learning how to use technology is very important.
What really stands out to me more than the literacy and technology standards are the more personal and social benchmarks in Standards for the 21st Century Learner. The skills section is fairly similar to the state standards. However, the addition of disposition, responsibilities, and self –assessment strategies are, in my opinion, a major necessity. I suppose, as educators, our first duty is to impart skills and knowledge. That being said, I strongly believe we should also make it a goal to teach students how to think critically and creatively, using a multitude of resources in the process.
I also really like that the AASL included responsibilities to the standards and benchmarks. When I was in grade school, my teachers always mentioned copyright when we were doing research. Unfortunately it ended there. It would have been very beneficial to study copyright a little more in depth so we understood the key points. I found that my teachers really never really went through finding credible sources or the proper way to use information technology. Granted we did not have to worry about identity theft, cyber bullying, and the other issues that are present today. However, it would have been great to learn how to use technology responsibly. Although the AASL standards better than the Illinois Learning Standards, they are not perfect, nor will they ever be. Technology and teaching fads change so rapidly it would be nearly impossible to keep up with them. I do believe Standards for the 21st Century Learner is a step in the right direction.
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