This was his post:
Publishing Leadership Project
How often do you have a student fail the first six weeks? This student, lost and confused has to try and figure what he missed, and keep up with current classroom activities. I want to embrace the “Digital Native” in each student and allow them to not fall behind. With all the technological advances that have come about, why not allow our students a chance to gain a reprieve for their errors, a mulligan if you will. As educators our job is not to fail students, but to correct their mistakes and show them the right path. My Action Research embraces technology and promotes it as an avenue to help a student learn and not allow him to fall so far behind that we lose them forever.
Say goodbye to the way we learned. Blackboards are a thing of the past; digital projectors and smart boards are the wave of the future. I am not saying we should throw away the foundations we grew up on; I am stating that today’s youth needs to be taught at their interests level. We should incorporate the Internet in our lectures and activities. We should allow students to complete work online. Not only does this prepare them for college, but teaches them life skills that will be beneficially to their future careers. If we as educators do not change our mentality toward technology, we will expand the gap between our students interests and our own.
Baturay & Bay (2010) discussed how problem based projects made the learners feel more connected to the content. I have seen first hand through my project how students get into role-playing and acting out scripts. I have also seen how allowing them to complete an interactive video assignment, online, can help stimulate their understanding of the material. By creating engaging projects, we embrace the constructivist in all our students. Using the Internet is great when you have the resources to use. However in my school, two computer labs with 30 computers each are in use all day. The opportunity to use them is scarce.
I was told by an administrator that the bureaucracy of getting equipment took months, almost a full year. Computers sit in storage until the proper work is filed, and by the time it placed in a classroom setting, it old technology. In order to offer a credit recover system the educational system has to change. Technology needs to be distributed out quicker. If you want to motivate a student, give him access to a computer. I have seen how a student who could not use Microsoft Word, can grow in one semester, into a knowledgeable contributor.
The first step in creating a productive credit recovery system is to teach the teachers how to better reach their students through technology. Many teachers thought that technology meant PowerPoint slides with pictures. Technology can be Google maps incorporated with videos of a region of the world, while incorporating it into a class presentation of an area. Teachers need to be taught how to use the gifts at their fingertips.
Second step is to create an online curriculum that engages the students on many levels. The problem with classroom instruction is that over the years teachers become stuck in their teaching rut, unwilling to change. This style may not be as conducive to learning as they think. Why not take a step back and create a curriculum that is different from what they had in class. After all, why place the same content on the web, in the same approach as the teacher. If educators would spice up the classroom, theirs a good chance credit recover might not be necessary.
Third step is to educate the students to the basic skills of online work submission and how to use the Internet to their benefit. Prensky calls students Digital Natives, but my research has shown that it only goes so far. Students understand Myspace.com, but many cannot even use Microsoft Word on attach a document to an email. Before a student reaches high school, they should be able to do most common tasks for Microsoft Office products. I have seen first hand that assignments created by students with first hand knowledge of PowerPoint, are far more complex and engaging than those of less familiar students. If teachers at the middle school level set a good foundation, teachers at the upper level can build and increase students’ computer skills.
While my Action Research was on creating an effective credit recovery system, I can truly say that if we adopted many of the concepts I used in my project, for everyday teaching, my credit recovery system might not be necessary. Until then, I think that if teachers allowed their students to recover grades online after they fail a six weeks grading period, it would only help the student understand future concepts. Maybe we should take it one step closer, and allow them to do it every two weeks.
My research was too broad. I had originally started to show the cost effectiveness in an online credit recovery system. It soon morphed into a social/racial experiment due to the area I live in. In all reality, the research would have been more fluid if I would have focused on this simple question, “Would an online Credit Recover System help students under the content better?”
My response:
Hi Jake! Long time, no hear...
I loved the presentation. I have a few edits if you want them. (Let me know.) I came into the presentation first, not your web page, so I was not understanding what credit recovery was. I finally got an ah-ha moment half way through and it made sense. Knowing that, I think it would help your presentation to put in a sentence explaining credit recovery to the layman. (Me, in this case...) I think this is a great idea! I'm going to look over your website as well.
Karlene
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