Preferences of Technology Education

What Old Generation likes may not be the same as what the New Generation prefers in Life, Work and Leisure.

Much of the good things enjoyed by elders when they were students are no longer available to the new generation.

Vocational, Cultural and Values classes that are widely used by old generations during their time today, it is also available but it has been minimized due to the emphasis on the basics of English, Mathematics and Science.
TEXT VS. VISUAL

Text and Visual

Our parents read book text, enrich by illustrations and photos. In order to research, they go to the school library, use the card catalogue for needed books and sign up to borrow books for home reading. 

The technology or digital generation has greater affinity to visuals (photo and video) compared with texts. In fact, they have been exposed since childhood to cable television and videos images especially cartoon characters and then to compute images, in such manner and their visual fluency or abilities have sharpened and enriched.

LINEAR vs. HYPER MEDIA

Linear Media

Hyper Media

The past-30 year old generation obtained information in a linear, logical and sequential manner. On the positive side, this made them more logical, focused and reflective thinkers.

The new generation, however, follows a personal random access to hyperlinked digital information, less superior elders in focused and reflection. Thus, they appear to be more easily bored and distracted during class lectures. 

INDEPENDENT vs. SOCIAL LEARNERS

Independent vs. Social Learners

The traditional education system gives priority to independent learning, prior to participative work.

New learners, however, are already acquainted with digital tools that adapt to both personal and participative work. They take the opportunity for dozens of instantaneous ways to communicate with others mobile calls and text, emails, Facebook, YouTube, Myspace, twitter, wikis and etc. experts describe this mode of digital learning as one that based on experimentation, discovery and intuition. 

LEARNING TO DO vs. LEARNING TO PASS THE TEST

Learning to do vs. Learning to pass the test

Old teachers teach students in order to help them pass tests and complete the course requirement.

On the other hand, the new digital learners simply wish to acquire skills, knowledge and habits as windows of opportunity afford them to learn. Our parents have completed a course and have engaged in a permanent job for most of their lives. A different work situation awaits the digital generation with contractual, multitask and multi-career opportunities in a digital world ahead of them. 

DELAYED REWARDS VS. INSTANT GRATIFICATION

Delayed Rewards vs. Instant Gratification

The traditional reward system in education consists in the grades, honor certificates/medals and diplomas. Including future jobs, the traditional rewards for the performance. 

On the other hand. Digital learners on their own experience or more immediate gratification through immediate scores from games, enjoyable conversation from web-cam calls, excitement from email chats and inviting comments from their Facebook accounts.

ROTE MEMORY VS. FUN LEARNING

Rote Memory and Fun Learning

Teachers feel too obliged to delivering content-based courses, the learning of which is measurable by standard tests.

Digital learners and not surprisingly there is much fun in the digital world outside the school.

Edmodo vs. Quipper School

     Edmodo and Quipper School are sites where educators and learners can interact online. The teacher may post activities such as assignments, polls and quizzes. These will be answered by the students. However, these sites are not exactly the same. There are features that are found in edmodo but not in quipper school, and vice versa.

     The Quipper School is K-12 based. Before you complete your sign up as a teacher, you have to choose first the area of your specialization (e.g Grade 10 Mathematics). Also, you can only do an assignment for the students. You have to choose from the list of topics and then drag it to the assignment box. However, you can make this assignment as an examination but you cannot type in questions. There is also a messages tab wherein you can chat with your students.

     In Edmodo, a teacher may choose from notes, assignment, quiz and poll. She may type any topic that she desires.The teacher may create a quiz and then select the type of quiz that she likes. She may type the questions that she made herself. You can also connect with other teachers. You can view the result of the test of each student. Unlike Quipper School, you cannot chat with your students but they may like and comment on your post.

     In conclusion, I think that Edmodo is more versatile and much easier to use that Quipper School. There are features of edmodo that I really liked and I think will make me benefit more as a teacher. But, the doors of me are not closed for Quipper School. I'm hoping for some developments on this site in the future. :)

Edmodo Activity

      Last August 14, 2015, E1H and I had a discussion about the Dial Indicator. We didn't have the chance to take a quiz because we lacked the time. To compensate this unfortunate event, I decided to make an online quiz using EDMODO.

Creating a quiz using Edmodo

         It was easy to use. I just selected the type of quiz that I'd like to create, and then I just typed the questions and the answers below. There is also a preview button wherein you can try your quiz. This helps a lot because you'll know the adjustments that you have to make before publishing the quiz. A teacher can set time time that is allotted for the quiz. This feature is important as it prevents the students from doing other activities like using facebook, twitter, etc. because the time is limited.

An attachment of the lesson

         I attached a presentation of the lesson for them to review before taking the quiz. They can just download it by clicking the file name.

After taking the quiz..

          What's so good about edmodo is that you can easily see how may students have turned in or answered the quiz. They can also leave a comment if they have a concern about the activity that they have. The students can only take the quiz once, to avoid cheating. 

A view of the answers of each student

            One of the features of edmodo that I really liked is that you can view the answers of each student. The numbers in green are the ones that they answered correctly while the ones in red are the items that they were wrong. 

Pie charts showing ho many students have answered each number correctly

              The teacher can also view the pie charts of each number. She can determine what the students didn't understand on the lesson. On the activity about the Dial Indicator, I can say that the students had a hard time answering question no. 7. It only means that this topic was not cleared before I ended the lesson.

A list of the students who got high scores from the quiz

                Edmodo also enables me to acknowledge those students who really study hard to get a high score on the quiz. I can see the names and the scores of the students who performed well in this activity.

                Most of us have an internet connection at home, and online quizzes are a trend nowadays. It helps the teachers ensure that the students learn even at home. Everything comes handy. All the teacher has to do is think of an activity that the students will surely enjoy. :)

What I've learned in Mechanical Shop for 3 years..

Ever since I was a kid, I was the type of girl who would rather cook than repair a chair using hammer and nails. I wasn't interested in screwdrivers, files, sandpapers, metal polish and the likes. Never in my wildest dreams did it occur that one day, I'll use them.

During my first year in college, we did so many projects because we had a rotation in different shops. I first learned how to do Forging. It is a process which uses heat and force to shape a metal. I've produced a chisel by placing the metal on a furnace, striking it with a mallet after it had turned "cherry-red". We used the grinder to sharpen the chisel's edge, and then scrubbed it with sandpapers and metal polish to remove the abrasions and little holes. 

After we're done in the Mechanical Shop, we were transferred to the Automotive Shop where we made a toolbox out of sheet metal. We were introduced to the different kinds of snips used to cut a sheet metal, the different tools like the scriber, the punch and etc. I learned how to measure using fractions of an inch.

Our third stop is the Civil or the Foundry Shop. Here, we performed casting. Casting is the process wherein a molten metal is poured into a mold. The molten metal will solidify into the desired shape. We used lead as the metal for our project.

The Powerplant Shop is where we tackled about welding. Welding is the process of joining two metals by melting them. I have experienced how to actually weld using scrap metals. We also discussed about the different types of electodes and welding processes. This is the shop where I enjoyed so much.

(Left to Right) Forging. Sheet Metal. Casting. Welding.

The second semester of my first year is the time where I first used a Lathe Machine. It a machine that rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform different operations. Our Professor taught us how to set it up, how to trouble shoot and to make it work. Our first project using the lathe machine is the gear clock.We cut the teeth of the gear using a saw. Manually. (It was really hard, you know.) After cutting it with a saw, we used a file to remove the excess metals on the edges. We also used a mallet to shape the metal that will serve as the holder of our clock. And for the base, we machined it using the lathe.

The canon and the candleholder our the projects that we accomplished during our second year. We applied the tapering, turning, facing and drilling. I also had the chance to use the Milling Machine and the Turret Lathe Machine. Milling machine uses a rotating tool to cut the metal while the Turret Lathe is used for repetitive production.

Turret Lathe, The Milling Machine and the Lathe Machine.

My third year as a mechanical student is the hardest of all. We tackled about Robotics and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Machine. The CNC is a machine that requires no human effort. The operator will just enter a set of programs to make it run. It can be a CNC Lathe or CNC Milling. Its programming is not easy, too. I learned how to use the G codes and the M codes. The G codes are used for controlling the actual tool movement while the M codes are used to set up the CNC prior to machining.

The CNC Machine.

Well,I hope that I can share all that I've learned with my students in the near future. I know that I still have to strive hard to give them the knowledge that they deserve. Thanks for reading!