CEDO 525 Entry One

Principles of Teaching and Learning:
After reading the articles about the Principles of Teaching and Learning the main thing that jumps out to me is the importance of communication and personalization. For many years education was viewed by most people as: teacher explains content...students listen and memorize content...students explain content to teacher. In many ways this is sadly the way that many still view education. More and more research is showing the complexities of individual students and the importance of students being able to learn better in an environment that is comfortable and customized to them. Personally, I at times am skeptical of some of the research that I come across, not because I believe it is wrong, but because in some cases the practicality of implementing it is not very realistic. Most teachers have several classes of anywhere from 20-30 students or more so completely personalizing all aspects of education is not a realistic expectation for teachers. With that being said it is vitally important that teachers do find ways to accommodate individual student needs. Teachers need to in some way shape or form develop relationships with and regularly communicate with every student. They also must differentiate instruction and provide timely feedback to all students as well. In the 21st century it is important for teachers to continually reflect and evolve in the profession in order to meet the needs of their students. While totally personalized education may not be entirely practical within the system currently in place, there is no doubt that teachers must begin to focus on becoming more of a co-learner and facilitator with every one of their students, rather than simply a source of content.

A meta-analysis of the effectiveness of teaching and learning:
The second article was very interesting to read after reflecting on the first one. In the first article I concluded that individualized learning is best for student achievement and that teachers should focus more on being co-learners and facilitators rather than simply content sources and graders. The study described in the second article took a look at technology's impact on student achievement. More and more school districts are investing a great deal of time and money on technology and asking "does technology improve student learning?" is a very valid and appropriate inquiry. The conclusion was that using technology in the right way can help students become more engaged and can help teachers create a more individualized learning environment for their students, both things that theoretically should greatly help with student achievement. If teachers are expected to differentiate and personalize for their students, then technology is a tool that makes it much more efficient and possible to achieve that. Technology in schools has great importance not only because it can help teach students relevant real-world skills that transfer over to the workplace but also can help student achievement according to the study if properly implemented by a teacher.

Wrapping Up CEDO 520

For all of the value and convenience that the Internet offers it, like most other things, comes with some very serious threats and risks. These need to be taken very seriously by everyone whether you are an online shopper, social networker, or parent of a web surfer.

I, like many, have been a victim of identity theft. A couple years ago my bank number was compromised and used to buy a $410 speaker. Although I was lucky and was able to easily recoup the money. This experience really opened my eyes to the potential threats that the Internet offers. It is unfortunate, but for most people it takes this type of experience to do this as well.

As a teacher, and most likely a future parent (yikes!!!) at some point, I am very well aware of the threats to children as well. Much of the inappropriate content on the net is very easily accessed and shared even for novice web surfers. Most children are at the very least proficient at using the web and have this easy access. This does scare me because it is likely that many kids are seeing things that are very inappropriate for them,  and often without monitoring from their parents. Social networking also is a scary thing for kids. And much of what they do is also done covertly or without monitoring. What I know from all of this is that I need to monitor my students, and future kids, on the Internet. It is not a thing that can be used without being aware of the threats whether it be to kids or anyone in general.