Blog #16- Hypertext Essay Draft?

Hypertext Essay Draft

Just letting everyone know that the information that is to follow is simply quotes that I found that can help me with my hypertext essay, it isn’t the only information that is going to be up there!

General Information (on welcome screen):
-"We know, purely and simply, that every single child must have access to a computer,
must understand it, must have access to good software and good teachers and to the
Internet, so that every person will have the opportunity to make the most of his or her own life (U.S. Department of Education, 1996)." (http://www.literacyandtechnology.
org/volume5/jltvol5eevans.pdf)
- “Teachers lack an understanding of how technology can be integrated into regular classroom instructional practices (Vrasidas 46).
-“In an 2000 report, the U.S. Department of Education wrote ‘that teachers’ preparation and training to use educational technology is a key factor to consider when examining their use of computers and Internet for instructional purposes’’ (Vrasidas 47).
-“Teacher technology use includes emailing, preparing lessons, and maintaining records, as well as personal use” (Vrasidas 50).
- “The right software can help teachers use computers to support child- centered inquiry” (Gordon 15).

1st node- Research about the implementation of technology in the classroom:
- From Clinton’s 1996 “Technology Literacy Challenge” to Bush’s 2001 “Enhancing Education through Technology (ED Tech) Initiative,” educational policies of the last two administrations have made “technology literacy” a top educational priority and a major target for federal spending (U.S. Department of Education, 1996, 2001). (http://www. literacyandtechnology.org/volume5/jltvol5eevans.pdf)
- Technology literacy was defined in 1996 as “computer skills and the ability to use computers and other technology to improve learning, productivity, and performance.” In these and subsequent educational plans, technology literacy continues to be linked to national progress and our nation’s success in a high-tech global environment (U.S. Department of Education, 1996, 2000; ISTE, 1998; Selfe, 1999a; 1999b). (http://www. literacyandtechnology.org/volume5/jltvol5eevans.pdf)

2nd node- Technology Literacy as a Social Practice:
- “Gee (1995) calls literacy a socially contested term whose traditional meaning—the ability to read and write—appears rather straightforward and obvious. But by linking literacy with individual abilities, such definitions fail to acknowledge the ways in which literacy is implicated in power relations: “situating literacy in the individual person rather than in society, obscure[s] the multiple ways in which literacy interrelates with the workings of power" (p. 2).
(http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume5/jltvol5eevans.pdf)
- “According to Street (1995), such traditional definitions of literacy are based upon an "autonomous model, autonomous because literacy is extracted from its social, cultural, and historical context.”
(http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume5/jltvol5eevans.pdf)
- “Technology literacy, as policy makers and government officials use it becomes a
symbol for national success in a global economy: "Just as literacy embodied the ideals of an Industrial Age, technology is positioned as a symbol of enlightened progress in the Age of Information" (Tyner, 1998 p. 17).
(http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/volume5/jltvol5eevans.pdf)

3rd node- Students’ Role in Technology Supported Classrooms:
- “Their autonomy and confidence increase as they rely less on their teacher and more on their own initiative for knowledge- creation. Technology enables students to manipulate information in a manner that accelerates both understanding and the progression of higher- order thinking skills. As students gather more real-world data, share their findings with learners beyond their school, and publish their findings to the world, their role broadens from investigators of other products to designers, authors, purveyors, and publishers.”
(Adams, Sharon and Mary Burns. Connecting Student Learning and Technology. 1999. 22 March 2009.)
- “The student is actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons.”
(Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. Technology and Education Reform, 11 March 2009 )
- “Another effect of technology cited by a great majority of teachers is an increased inclination on the part of students to work cooperatively and to provide peer tutoring. Students’ ability to collaborate on substantive content can be further enhanced through the use of software applications specifically designed for this purpose.”
(Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. Technology and Education Reform, 11 March 2009 )

4th node- Teacher Roles:
- “The teacher is no longer the center of attention as the dispenser of information, but rather plays the role of facilitator, setting project goals and providing guidelines and resources, moving from student or group to group, providing suggestions and support for student activity.”
(Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. Technology and Education Reform, 11 March 2009 )
- “… technology provides a very different set of challenges and different ways in which students can demonstrate what they understand (e.g., by programming a simulation to demonstrate a concept rather than trying to explain it verbally).”
(Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. Technology and Education Reform, 11 March 2009 )
- “Along with training and support, teachers need more time to develop new teaching and technology knowledge, skills, and attitudes” (Vrasidas 76).
- “The digital classroom presents a different dynamic than the one for which most teachers have been trained. A growing percentage of students come to class with extensive experience using multiple technologies for social, educational, and recreational purposes, which in essence, makes them technology experts” (Gordon 14).

5th node- What technologies provide the most student autonomy and how are they used? What makes them beneficial to the teacher and to the students?
Technologies that Provide Autonomy:
- Thinking Reader: students sit at computers with headphones, and read a text
- “The computer simultaneously highlights each word on the screen and reads it aloud. Students who don’t understand a particular word can get a definition with a click of the mouse” (Gordon 79).
- “The idea is to get students to be active readers using a four- part strategy: formulating questions, summarize, clarify, and predict” (Gordon 80).
- “Technology makes it possible for each students to directly engage the text through prompts embedded in the story itself and various decoding supports- supplemented, of course, by interactions with the teacher, who spends his or her classroom time monitoring student progress and providing targeted guidance to individual students” (Gordon 80).


-“….the results of these comparisons shows that teachers place higher value on more established technologies such as desktop computers, and technologies that are placed into their hands, such as laptops and LCD projectors. In contrast, teachers place lower value on newer technologies, such as portable writing devices and palm pilots, and technologies that are place into students’ hands. (Vrasidas 53).”

Benefits to the Students:
- “The most common—and in fact, nearly universal—teacher- reported effect on students was an increase motivation. Teachers and students are sometimes surprised at the level of technology- based accomplishment displayed by students who have shown much less initiative or facility with more conventional academic tasks.”
(Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. Technology and Education Reform, 11 March 2009 )
- “…Some mentioned motivation with respect to working in a specific subject area, for example, a greater willingness to write to work on computational skills. Others spoke in terms of more general motivational effects—student satisfaction with the immediate feedback provided by the computer and the sense of accomplishment and power gained in working with technology.”
(Effects of Technology on Classrooms and Students. Technology and Education Reform, 11 March 2009 )
- LAPTOP INITIATIVE: laptop computers for all teachers and students in 7th through 12th grade, a wireless network covering the entire school campus, and innovative approaches to teacher professional development and support: “In addition to the overall positive attitudes, access to laptops in the school led to six areas of growth and success for teaching and learning: 1. increased communication, 2. more convenient access to resources, 3. increased use of resources, 4. enhanced computer literacy skills, 5. better organization of documents and resources, and 6. a move toward a more equalized distribution of computer expertise (Vrasidas 68-69).”