Research

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This is a gathering spot for research related to Web 2.0 collaborative apps and S.T.E.M. research  which is the focus of classes I am currently enrolled in. While some or it may or may not be of direct interest to all of you I have included it to provide a little insight into my beliefs about educational reform and the impact of technology on the U.S. Educational system in the near future.

Problem Statement Students today face an amazing array of technology from ipods to cell phones. From laptops to video games and a thousand other devices and technologies they come to school wired. When they get to school, all too often they are told to read a book, or listen to a lecture, or write on the chalkboard. These are all skills that would have been used in classrooms 100 years ago in Nebraska. According to Marc Prensky “Our students have changed radically. Today’s students are no longer the people our educational system was designed to teach.“ Students today need skills undreamed of a century ago. Teachers need to use the technology tools of today in order to prepare their students for tomorrow’s jobs. Internet usage, laptop computers, online research skills, foreign language knowledge, collaboration skills on projects and more. In addition the skills they need are changing and evolving every day. This study will seek to research instructional practices that are most effective in teaching today’s students and focus on “Web 2.0” tools and their use in Secondary classrooms of Nebraska.

Purpose of the Study The purpose of this mixed method experimental study is to test the theory that technology integration using “web 2.0” online collaboration tools in secondary classrooms in Nebraska can have a dramatic effect on student attitudes and achievement in classrooms of the 21st Century. The use of instructional technology to increase student achievement controlling for amount of technology used by instructors for high school students at an Omaha area high school.

SOCIAL SIGNIFICANCE: Thomas Freidman in his book “The World is Flat” presents compelling reasons why we must dramatically change our schools and our priorities in order to compete and survive in the “flat world” With instant communication and the ability to have work done anywhere anytime without walls abd barriers that have existed in the past, we must change the way we think about learning and we must prepare our students for their future not our past. Web 2.0 collaboration technologies allow coe instant classroom collaboration and real world problem solving instantly from any internet accessible computer.

In his book The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki explains that Linux and other Open source tools are "Owned by no one" (surowiecki, 2004, p 73)     he goes on to say that the power of having thousands of programmers working on a solution that works is "a kind of strength". He continues to say "You can let a thousand flowers bloom and then pick the one that smells the sweetest" (p. 74)

Bill Gates The Founder of Microsoft said of the nations high schools: They are "broken, flawed and underfunded, and said the system itself is obsolete" he went on to say: "When I compare our high schools to what I see when I'm traveling abroad, I am terrified for our work force of tomorrow," (Gates, February 25, 2005) http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2002191433_gates27m.html

Friedman, T., (2006). The World is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century, updated and expanded edition. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Gates, B., (2005) Gates "appalled" by high schools The Seattle Times Downloaded on April 17, 2008 from http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/education/2002191433_gates27m.html

Prensky, M., (2001, October). Digital immigrants, Digital Natives. From On the Horizon NCB University Press, Vol. 9 No. 5

Prensky, M., (2005, September/October). Engage Me or Enrage Me. Educause Review p 60-64

Surowiecki, J.,(2004, June). The Wisdom of Crowds - Why the Many are Smarter than the Few. New York:Doubleday