Write with Style!
It's hard to imagine the modern world without Word Processing Software. As an educator, being proficient at word processing is no longer just valuable; it's essential.
From the easy modification of older documents, to rapid and Eco-friendly distribution of information to an entire class (e.g., an online syllabus), the beneficial uses of word processing software are limitless. With the dawn of cloud computing, one useful feature of online word processors (such as Google Docs) is the ability to share and edit documents in real-time (Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.119).
However, there are caveats: the increasing use of word processors has led to decreased legibility in the handwriting of modern students. Many elementary schools don't bother teaching cursive anymore (Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.120). The eventual effects of this chicken-scratch epidemic on students has yet to be seen, but the art of hand writing isn't likely to become obsolete.
Crunch the Numbers
Spreadsheet software is the great divider: you either embrace its glorious powers of computation, or it haunts your professional life with mysterious symbols and unfathomable errors. We are all familiar with the obstacles in learning to use spreadsheet software, and in the classroom these obstacles are amplified. As our textbook states:
"Teachers who would employ this versatile software must first address students' tendency to fear mathematics. They are not afraid to process words, but processing numbers is quite another matter." (Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.125)
If this gap can be bridged, there waits a multitude of benefits on the other side. As our education system focuses more on STEM subjects, the importance of being skilled with spreadsheet software (a crucial tool in all scientific fields) will grow. With the ability to quickly crunch mathematical formulas, and to organize/visualize data, programs such as Excel are invaluable to any scientific classroom.
Presentations: The Do's and Don'ts
The combination of relevant images and text can give a lesson a powerful punch that it would have otherwise lacked, and can make the difference between a student sleeping through a lecture versus remembering it forever.However, teachers must exercise caution with presentation software; students can become bored easily while viewing a poorly structured presentation, and some critics believe that presentations act as poor substitutes for an actual lecture (Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.130).
An Example
According to our textbook, one useful aspect of spreadsheet software is the ability to pose "what if" questions (Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.122). But what does this mean? In a physics class, I may share an interactive Excel document with my class that contains built-in operations to simulate kinematic motion over time. Students could input variables such as mass, velocity, and gravitational strength, and the document could automatically adjust to these changes, producing numerical/graphical representations of the results.
In this sense, students could "play" with the physics, and learn on an experiential level what roles these variables play in the world around them.
I've made an extremely basic sketch-up of what such a spreadsheet might look like, for anyone interested:
Roblyer , M. D., & Doering, A. (2013). Integrating educational technology into teaching. (6th ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: Pearson Education, Inc.
Great blog post, Adam! I can attest to the fact that good handwriting is no longer required in elementary school. I have a daughter in 2nd grade, and it drives me crazy that they don't practice handwriting at school! Remember the handwriting paper that we used to have to use? Well, it is apparently extinct. I am just praying that as her fine motor skills develop, so will her messy handwriting. (By the way, spreadsheets haunt me on a daily basis.)
ReplyDeleteI truly enjoyed the layout and conversation type flow of your blog! I too have found that most either love or hate spreadsheets, and I happen to love them! Word processing tends to be my go to in my classroom though. When it comes to Presentation software, I tend to be stuck on the fence. While I enjoy putting them together, and often would rather sit in a class that uses them, I do tend to agree with Tufte (2003) saying that "Power corrupts; PowerPoint corrupts absolutely" (Doering & Roblyer, 2013, p.128). I agree that often times presentations are done in a manner that make the student focus on the slides and miss the message that is intended. But....that all relates back to how the presentation is put together. Interactive slides tend to require the student to pay more attention to the message in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your blog. I take it you are a stargazer. I also enjoyed the conversational style of your writing. I would like to comment on the handwriting issue. Roblyer and Doering (2013) point out that word processing may be responsible for the apparent deterioration in handwriting among students. However, I feel keyboarding will be such an important part of their professional lives that it should be taught just as handwriting. I realize that I am at a disadvantage because I do not keyboard well. I think the necessity of good keyboarding skills should be impressed upon students.
ReplyDeleteYour gravity graphed is very cool. What level of mathematics do you think a student would need to achieve fop it not to seem like a "further challenge to their math ability?" (Doering and Roblyer,2013)
ReplyDeleteI love the constellations as your background! This is a very minimalistic but neat approach to a blog and it makes for a very clean and clear read! I love how succinct you were in describing the different software programs and how they apply in the classroom! I also love how you list the pros and cons of each so that your audience is aware that none of these software programs are perfect and if used incorrectly, can hinder performance.
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