Daniel+Bullard



Hi all!

My name is Daniel Bullard. I am a second-year doctoral student in The Instructional Design and Technology (IDT) program. I have a wife (as of March 2011 - see picture above!) and a nine year old daughter named Julia. I have lived in Cincinnati my entire life, and earned my B.S. in Biology, and M.A. in Psychology, here at UC. I am very passionate about the intersection of science education, cognition, and technology. Moreover, I am interested in designing instruction that utilizes what we know about how the brain works. Much of this is encompassed in the [|Universal Design for Learning] (UDL) framework.

In my spare time, I enjoy walks along the river with my family or full-out [|backpacking] expeditions with my [|brother and friends].

__ Reflective Blog I __
 * Objectivism vs. Constructivism **

For most of this school year, I have been considering the differences between, and the validity of, the objectivist and constructionist viewpoints in the realm of education. Coming from a strong objectivist background, both in terms of what I was exposed to AND what I thought was best for education, I was slow to see the fruits of the constructivist viewpoint. From my perspective, it was so important to imbue students with certain critical nuggets of information, that I thought memorizing and internalizing these central facts was more important than the much more engaging process of having these students construct their knowledge about such core topics within the context of their current knowledge base and social milieu. After extensive consideration, I have come to understand (as is often the case) that both viewpoints offer valid and valuable arguments that, when synthesized, have much to offer the budding student. Clearly, the objectivist viewpoint has held sway since the ideals of the industrial revolution resulted in the ‘manufacturing’ of students. During this process, the focus of education switched from the individual to the group—strict objectivist approaches were apparently easier to implement. Since the 1980s, constructivism has made its way into the mainstream and generated more balance in our approach to education. I think the philosophical positions of both objectivism and constructivism can be divorced somewhat from their practical application. Belief in an external reality versus one that is based on internal, context-based constructions may be independent of the fact (for example) that constructivist approaches are often more engaging and active and can—by virtue of those facts alone—lead to positive learning outcomes relative to objectivist approaches.

Question: Should we expect all students to flourish at the same or different points along the objectivist-constructivist continuum?

__ Reflective Blog II __
 * The One-Computer Classroom **

The focus of these readings was the one-computer classroom. The one-computer classroom offers many challenges to the teachers that require creativity and pre-planning to ensure the instruction runs efficiently and effectively. For example, students should be encouraged to pre-plan how they plan to research information on the internet, including what search engines they should use, what sites they will explore, and what questions they may ask of experts in a given field. Additionally, teachers may benefit from collaborating with other one-computer-classroom teachers they may have open periods or would be willing to allow student-visitors during their class periods. One key tool for one-computer classrooms is the use of stations to ensure that time is used efficiently, that students explore multiple methods of researching information (online, in magazines, or encyclopedias and other texts), and that the ‘waiting in line at the drinking fountain’ approach (that often leads to behavioral issues) is circumvented.

It is good to be reminded that there are still schools out there with deficiencies in access to computers and software. In my role as a graduate research assistant, I have been exposed to a lot of well-equipped classrooms where the strategies addressed in these readings were unnecessary. The use of stations and multiple methods of inquiry are tools that I will carry forth in my own instruction, as needed.

Question: What other strategies have you used or considered that might help the one-computer-classroom scenario?

__ Reflective Blog III __
 * Web 2.0 (Blogs, Wikis, & WebQuests) **

The three articles for this entry looked at the transformation of Web 1.0 (one-to-many content) to Web 2.0 (many-to-many or few-to-few content), and what this transformation has meant for the use of the Internet for the purpose of education. For example, Gillmor (2004) wrote, “In the past 150 years we’ve essentially had two distinct means of communication: one-to-many (books, newspapers, radio, and TV) and one-to-one (letters, telegraph, and telephone). The Internet, for the first time, gives us many-to-many and few-to-few communications.” This quote is particularly instructive on this point.

I was particularly amused by the fact that I didn’t know the origin of the word “blog” until I read these articles. This is particularly embarrassing given the fact that I am an IDTer. It, of course makes sense to think of blogs as web logs, but I had never put much thought into the name…

These articles illustrated that blogs can be a great tool for follow-ups on classroom discussions, modeling of assignments, and can also provide an excellent opportunity for students who do not feel comfortable making contributions in the classroom to participate in the discussion. Further, for it allows students to reflect and revisit topics after having listened to different viewpoints in class, while giving them the opportunity to construct knowledge instead of merely being passive recipients.

Before reading the articles, I hadn’t put much thought into the differences between blogs and wikis. I knew that the two were different, but hadn’t reflected upon how each could be used in different ways for educational purposes. While blog content is typically added chronologically, content on wikis can be added, edited, or deleted without much consideration of when the changes were made. Of course, this information is available via the ‘history’ tool in the wiki. I also enjoyed reading the characterization of the //wisdom of crowds//. I must admit to having considered this phrase a bit of an oxymoron, given the conclusions of books such as // [|Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds] //, wherein it is argued that people often act in irrational ways as parts of crowds. In some ways, the authors of the present articles echoed this sentiment by reminding the reader that much of this content can be edited by anyone who logs in. Conversely, they point to a study that showed the difference between the accuracy of Wikipedia entries versus entries on the Encyclopedia Britannica was slim. Thus, I acquiesced to the existence of a collective // wisdom of crowds //! :)

All of the resources mentioned in these articles point to the facilitation of knowledge construction through the implementation of web-based, collaborative tools. I consider myself enlightened on topics that I thought I already had a comprehensive understanding of.

Question: Have you experienced issues related to the use of blogs and wikis in your teaching that were not addressed in the present articles?

__ Reflective Blog IV __
 * Video technology and podcasting **

I have often wondered if many students' perceived enjoyment of, and fascination with, video production units were more the result of these types of units being novel, or whether there are, in fact, some enduring and truly engaging aspects to video production. The Sweder article provided me with some supporting logic to ensure that there is something more to video production educational-units than mere novelty. This was accomplished for me by the explication of the Systematic Blending: MI Theory. This theory essentially states that groups of students charged with the task of video production to facilitate education on a particular topic will self-organize. Group members will choose their roles in the process based on what they see as their areas of expertise, be it (for example) spatial or linguistic. In a similar vein, I also appreciate the multimodal nature of video production projects. This supports the main principles of UDL, that of multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression.

Video production units also require a great deal of collaboration and support the learning of important cooperative learning elements. Though I imagine other group-work can accomplish goals related to collaboration, video production—with its needs for various areas of specialization—seems particularly well equipped for enhancing education through collaboration.

As web download speeds and the sheer storage capacity of mobile and other technologies rise, I see the concept of podcasts gradually disappearing. Granted, audio recordings have their place, such as when commuting or in other situations when a person’s visual attention is required, many podcasts that would have been listened to in years past are being replaced by YouTube videos and the like. Regardless, I wish podcasts and iTunes U would have been available during my undergraduate experience. The ability to review a given lecture via a podcast or video would have made discerning the contents of my notebook’s scribblings infinitely easier.

Question: Do you ever use podcasts in your teaching? If so, when are you more inclined to use them? Do you think they're more time consuming for you to consider implementing them when compared to your usual practice?

__ Reflective Blog V __
 * Mobile learning and interactive whiteboard technologies **

I must admit that when I saw when the article on mobile learning was published (2003), my first thought was that whatever the article had to say was likely to be outdated. Though the article proved to be useful and contain pertinent information on multiple fronts, a vague and jargon-laden introduction made reading it a challenging start. Here’s an example :

“ Mobile devices participate in a network that is overlaid in the same physical space in which students and teachers participate socially in teaching and learning, so two distinct kinds of participation are occurring at the same time and in the same space: the normal social participation in classroom discussion (for example) and the new informatic participation among connected devices.”

There is much talk in the article about Palm systems, which provides an interesting perspective on how quickly technology changes. I wonder how many students have even heard of Palm with the advent of Android and iOS platforms. Regardless, classroom response systems and collaborative data gathering are still very popular. This quarter, I participated in a water quality testing project at a local junior high that utilized iPod touches and SparkVue software (a PASCO product) to collect and transmit data on site. The teachers loved the ability to collect and share the data while still in the field.

I have some experience with classroom response systems using iPod touches. The sophistication of these technologies continues to grow. I have seen the positive outcomes in person of these systems. They do indeed provide the opportunity to clear up misconceptions of the group, while reducing embarrassment through anonymous responses.

The article that focused on Smart Boards made one key point that resonated with my experiences with teachers in PD environments: in the rapidly changing technological landscape, constant in-service support and training is a necessity. New tools are emerging all the time. As such, it is nearly impossible for teachers to keep up with all of the new and interesting opportunities provided by advancements in technology. Training from specialists who are charged with keeping up with the ever-shifting trends is the only path to an informed in-service teacher population.

Question: Do you think teachers today are interested in learning new technologies? Are they burned-out by trying to keep up?

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