Creating this blueprint in Educational Technology Integration LDT 440 has; heightened my awareness of affordances (Bower, 2008) and limitations of technology (e.g., Audacity); solidified my blueprint template; and streamlined my process for potential technology integration by building upon the RIPPLES framework (Surry, et.al., 2005). The South Dakotan Higher Education site chosen for the proposal posed exceptional challenges and deeply memorable learning. This experience cemented a reflexive awareness of misapprehensions about rural Native Americans, the devices currently being used, familiarity with all functions of technology, and internet access.
Through this project I gained the sensibility to preemptively question what affordances a certain technology application can add to a lesson or curriculum: and this ability will remain valuable in my foreseeable future working with educational technology. This course taught me how to identify affordances, circumnavigate inaffordances, and present gatekeepers with all pertinent and persuasive details they need to make an informed decision. The preparedness displayed in this proposal proves that I have considered the potential costs (temporal and financial), impediments to implementation, and contingency solutions to improve learning facilitated by technology. I have gained the ability to distinguish between an impulsive idea about an application that will benefit learning outcomes in addition to how to make a practical plan for accomplishing successful implementation.
Web version below, APA formatted document can be viewed in One Drive.
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Daniel Justice June-July 2019
Oglala Lakota College photo by Alternative Break Trips
Preface
The following blueprint only cites verified credible sources, at times the designer was left to speculate about the exact conditions, infrastructure, and potential teaching capability. This has been the most research-intensive blueprint and yielded the highest number of empty research leads which left only personal editorial sites for certain aspects (e.g. confirmation of technology present in classrooms). To illustrate challenges faced three examples follow starting with the consideration of the unconfirmed Department of Education funding, which may explain why research and data for the funding status of Indian Education Professional Development Grants and Program have not been submitted since 2017 and the website was “Last Modified: 04/12/2018” (U.S. Department of Education). Next, I hoped to confirm if a Wiki page existed to be used with this blue print but this led to an offline page and traffic statistics showing inactivity since June 2018 (Easy Counter). The designer has attempted to network with regional members of the Oglala Lakota College to provide some information but judging from their academic calendar, they are closed for the summer. Due to these conditions, this blueprint is in an early stage of development until contact can be made with the college and determinations can be made about pragmatics of this blueprint. Typical assumptions about urban Americans and classrooms with common personal technology and access to high-speed internet are avoided and have shifted to cautious estimations for this population and area.
Introduction of Purpose
The primary objective is to increase accuracy and fluency of English as a second language and secondary is the opportunity for technology to increase learning outcomes. Following this design, students will be asked to interview and discuss a traditional or personal story with a community elder, or More Knowledgeable Other (Vygotsky, 1978), to practice their ability to communicate and translate in Lakota and English. The audio recording and editing software Audacity is recommended to maximize exposure to the content and minimize cognitive load while conducting the interview. The learning theory supporting this activity is found in Formal Operational phase of Piaget’s development theory (Piaget, 1929). When students must think logically about some novel and abstract language, description, or event from the storyteller, they are functioning at one of highest cognitive levels Piaget described. This activity creates the conditions for experiential learning (Kolb 1984), grounded in students’ relevant learning context, and is likely to be memorable from the conversational interaction experienced.
The designer brought a Humanistic approach (Kim & Keller 2010) by facilitating a heritage learning activity meant to elicit student interest in local contextual history and personal motivation. In closing, along with intentional language learning goals, I believe this will lead to incidental, or Situated Learning (Lave 1988), about Lakota culture, history, and community.
Role – Technology Implementation Coordinator and collaborative blueprint designer
Target audience – Oglala Lakota College Administrators and one language teacher
Learning Environment
The proposed learning environment is envisioned to leverage blended learning on and off campus. Oglala Lakota College in Pine Ridge South Dakota is the preferred location for implementation as it is the flagship Higher Education campus in Oglala Lakota county since 1971. Partnership with present staff and/or a site visit would be necessary for fully assessing the technology present including hardware, infrastructure, student technology access, and a systems survey of needs.
Math and Science students and classroom technology at Oglala Lakota College 2013.
Technology Presently Available
In-Class: The environment follows the model of traditional classrooms for face-to-face and group interaction including white boards and overhead projection.
I am unable to confirm all advanced technology, its’ reliability, efficiency, and present degree of integration at this time.
Personal Technology: Drawn from county demographic census statistics 56% of homes had a personal computer in 2017 (U.S. Census Bureau). Data on cellphone and smartphone ownership was not listed nor found from other public sources. Based on government statistics, 26% residents of Oglala county had broadband (see Appendix A), and 44% of the homes in the town of Pine Ridge had broadband in 2017. Based on this information I predict that about half the college students in 2019 live in homes with high-speed service. This situation requires a student technology survey to determine the specific number of students who have a reliable computer capable of running web 2.0 software, recording device microphone, and can connect to efficient internet connections for downloading necessary software.
Challenge Faced by Learners
Students face a myriad of challenges that may influence their health and education, from employment to completion of education at the secondary and post-secondary levels. The most relevant to this implementation includes access to reliable mobile technology and affordable internet access for attaining software applications. The full extent of challenges is unknown and data on individual mobile device ownership and capabilities of those machines require further investigation. To increase the percentage of students with access to this technology may require pairing or grouping of students which may present access or scheduling challenges. Questions have been raised about equal access to education and whether the Department of Education has historically accommodated local needs.
Evidence of Challenge
- 56% of homes in Pine Ridge had a personal computer, 44% had broadband in 2017.
- 1-2 broadband service providers supply this area, the lowest number of providers in the country.
- 8% or Pine Ridge residents are in poverty making it difficult to afford technology, internet service, and education.
- Public data, research, and evidence is not presently available that proves more than half of the students at Oglala Lakota College have a personal computer, a smartphone, or affordable and efficient internet access.
- 4% of county residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
Lesson Intention
The main learning objective is students will be able to translate and present a Lakota oral history story in English. Using audio recording technology will improve learning by providing; increased accuracy; time to confirm understanding; opportunity to prepare and present a fluent presentation. Dialog between the storyteller and translator stimulates Cognitive Social Mediated Learning (Vygotsky 1978), the belief that interaction between people is how and when most learning happens. Having a navigable recording will allow the storyteller and presenter to discuss and determine accurate translation of the story in English. A digital audio recording enables meaningful, iterative practice by giving multiple chances interpreting the same content. To increase the percentage of students with access to this technology may require pairing or grouping of students.
Technology to Implement
An audio recording and editing application like Audacity is recommended for this implementation. The application would be used for the initial recording of the oral history story, reviewing and translating the story, and finally used again to record the student’s presentation of the original artifact in English. Audacity is preferred to other applications because of its reliability, support resources, compatibility between Mac and PC platforms, download size, and the capabilities of the freeware version
Affordances
Relevant affordances of Audacity were determined following Matt Bower’s vocabulary and classifications listed in the article Affordance Analysis (Bower, 2005). Essentially the following affordances are activities made possible through the Audacity application and planned for direct use in the college course curriculum.
The application affords abilities:
Media – speaking and listening
Spatial – select, remove, and edit sections of the audio recording
Temporal – after the story is recorded and saved to a device, the audio can be accessed any time for playback. This can be used in synchronous discussion or independent study.
Navigation – end users can browse through the audio and choose what to listen to
Emphasis – can be drawn to certain sections by increasing the volume or adding an audio cue, audio ping or bell, to heighten listeners attention.
Synthesis – the content produced can be integrated with other Web 2.0 tools for uploading and sharing in a public or private group
Appropriateness
The following considerations were made to determine how well this application or others are anticipated to function in this setting. Applications compared include: Audacity, GarageBand, ProTools, and stock voice recording applications common to operating systems.
Environment – Audacity was chosen because of issues of access in this learning environment. Flexibility with operating systems was required as an application may be installed on a variety of systems: Linux, Mac, or PC. Considerations were made for download size (less than 80 Mb) in this area of limited and uncertain internet access. Audacity can also be shared via thumb-drive or CDR, increasing of more students. This application was chosen for consistency between systems, powerful editing functions, and affordable access to technology for learning.
Tom Raymond, Dean of Education, colleagues and U of M visitors meet in 2013 (source)
Audience – Audacity was specifically picked for Oglala Lakota College. Due to the number and complexity of features available, Audacity is ideal for adult learners. It is considered appropriate for teenagers and up (source) which includes college aged students.
Cultural Considerations – The application itself is culturally, politically, and gender neutral. Technology is embraced in this college community and generally welcomed.
Content –Audacity will empower students to create content that subsequently can be used as student generated content for deeper learning.
Addressing the Challenge – This application is free, therefore affordable, a reasonable size of memory to download and store, therefore practical, is available for cross-platform use, facilitates students’ focus on storyteller content and ability to confirm meaning and understanding, the later formulate and perfect their external expressions. Therefore, the application is expected to improve ability interpreting, translating, and presenting ideas accurately and fluently in English as a second language.
RIPPLES Model and Considerations
The RIPPLES model created by Daniel Surry (Surry, 2005) was chosen and applied here as a preparatory checklist of considerations to make regarding this technological application implementation. This model was created from feedback from 55 university deans of Carnegie Research institutions across the United States. The completed surveys regarded dean satisfaction with students’ use of technology, students’ competence with technology, and adequacy of technology infrastructure to name a few significant examples. Grounded in the recent and relevant assessment of technology and the new graduates who may need the skills the most, I believe you will also find the efficiency and efficacy of employing this model.
RIPPLES Model Applied to Audacity Software
Resources
Initial Investment – Pay one language instructor and one IT support staff member $50.00 each for training to build confidence using this application for a total of $100.00. These financial incentives are provided to ensure the initial integration and subsequent time invested by the instructor and IT profession in helping students with the software.
Maintenance – Online technical support is not provided with the free version. Support is available through an extensive online manual capable of answering many self-help questions. A technical support staff member would be trained and available to support this application which is not always intuitive nor initially easy to navigate. Additional technical support provided by IT department is funded by Oglala Lakota College paid through monthly wages. Maintenance of college resources like computers and internet infrastructure is not expected to increase due to this implementation designed for 1 instructor and 30 students.
Infrastructure
Hardware – desktop computers are available in designated classrooms and computer commons rooms available to students.
Internet network – On-Campus – is available but capabilities and individual access are unknown at this time. This requires contact and confirmation with the organization.
Off-Campus Internet – is inconsistent between students as about 50% of town residents were reported to have a broadband internet connection in the home in 2017. The most elusive unknown factor is the data limitations and capabilities, for example 1 Gb per month at a set price point.
People
Dean or Program Supervisor – approval is needed to collaborate with teaching staff, supervisor support is required for successful integration.
Technical Support – [see Information Technology Department in Support section below]
One language Teacher – foster a working relationship to plan, implement, successfully execute the assignment, evaluate students and this blueprint.
Students- pilot this implementation with 3-5 volunteers who are early adopters of the diffusion of technology spectrum who may act as supportive leaders for the cohort.
Policy
Land grant colleges and universities were designed from guidelines in accordance with national standards. As a federal accredited college, policy encourages equal access to education which applies to modern comparable facilities and technology. Additional Tribal policies should be explored and verified before proceeding. Oglala Lakota College has a long tradition of collaborating with universities including: Black Hills State University, University of Colorado, University of Michigan leading me to believe this plan will be possible.
Learning
Evaluation – to measure this instructional design and blueprint, instructor and student evaluations can be completed before and after this technology implementation. Instructors and students will be asked to informally evaluate students’ fluency and vocabulary, in spoken and written forms, before and after this activity.
Support
Instructor Training – Training and understanding of how technology integration will benefit learning and fits into pedagogy is supported by TPACK training. Well prepared teachers who know how to use technology efficiently, effectively, and believe it will improve learning among students are more likely to be successful.
Student Training – One hour of instruction will introduce students to the activity, technology, and equip students to reach the objectives. This training will supply students with resources and a participatory demonstration to download the application and practice using the features best suited to this lesson.
Information Technical Staff Training – One member of this team will be recruited and paid to complete a short training session on how to use Audacity as well as troubleshoot issues and provide student support for the application.
Pedagogical Support – The designer of this blueprint will be the main resource for implementation support. The designer will be available by: phone, SMS messaging, email, online chat, and video conferencing.
Summary of Main Points
- Oglala county and residents are often under-served and excluded from common research studies leading to a lack of support compared to common US counties.
- The Oglala Lakota College has modern technology, support, and capability. I plan to discover local technology needs, collaborate with administrators and staff.
- Audacity audio recording software is likely to increase learning through meaningful iterative practice translating Lakota and English.
- The proposed lesson was designed to engage student interest and motivation, to improve language ability and familiarity with a popular software application with innumerable uses.
- This blueprint is positioned to contribute to equal access to education and technology, goals of the Department of Education mandated by federal law.
The Rationale for Implementation – Intentionality is important in learning environments and technology integration. Following are examples of prescriptive instructional principles from cognitive science and learning psychology which illustrate some intentions of this implementation. An amalgamation of principles from researchers are listed by Spector (2015, pg. 105), and are deemed necessary to facilitate learning. The first principle advises awareness of students’ short-term memory capacity and benefits of chunking material. This principle will be aided by the audio recording software allowing learners to focus on conducting the interview, discussing, and then using the recording to clarify and work through translating difficult lexis. The designer took a student-centered approach to activate motivation and engagement, principle 5, by selecting an activity traditionally practiced in Native culture. The tradition of storytelling is important in many families and is likely to spark interest in teachers, students, and elder members of the community. A level of self-sufficient proficient use, principle 6, of the technology and translating between languages is anticipated. Students have more opportunities to review and expand on the interview, then create the most accurate translation of the story. This is all intended to improve independent use of language.
Demonstration
Following is an example of images and instructions students and staff will encounter in this lesson. Selecting and editing audio is one of the most common functions used, next we will walk staff and students through the basic steps to one of the most useful features students and staff will be able to perform. This gives a sample of instructional wording used and the practicality of learning the technical skills to complete the learning task. The demonstration would be led by a teacher with students practicing the steps in-class.
- The screenshot above displays the Audacity interface in iOS with an audio clip loaded and ready to edit.
- To select a section for editing, simply move your cursor over one point of the track, click the mouse and drag to the second point and release the mouse.
This is shown in the image to the left where we find a section of the audio highlighted in the green box. The selected text will appear shaded in a darker grey colored area on your computer screen.
- Next, we navigate to the menu bar and select the ‘Edit’ tab. For example, we may want to remove an unnecessary section of audio, so we scroll down and select ‘Delete’ or press the Apple key and ‘K’ key at the same time.
Overview of Costs
Time– Dean/supervisor – 3 hours, including initial consultation, progress report, and final evaluation.
Language teacher – 12-15 hours, initial consultation, collaborative lesson planning, technology training, class delivery, some technical support, instructor evaluation, grading, final consultation with designer.
IT Technician – 8-10 hours, including training, teacher and student technical support
Energy – negligible energy is expected to be consumed by the class of 30 or fewer students in facilities already in use and supplied.
Money-Initial Investment – $100.00 for teacher and IT technician training [details listed in Resources– Initial Investment section above]
Implementation Process – due to the limited features needed for this lesson the process is estimated to reach functional use in one week. No additional funds are requested.
Continued Maintenance – negligible physical maintenance and time spent is likely. Compensation is included in teacher and IT technician regular pay.
Analysis of Benefits
The immediate and long-term benefits greatly outweigh costs of time invested and a humble initial implementation expense. The learning goals detailed in this blueprint will be supported by using Audacity and provide training and grounded learning using a powerful recording and editing tool. While the application creates some challenges, , with training provided and technical support in place, ease of use will be increased. The artifacts created by each story teller and student is intended to raise students’ ability with vocabulary, speaking fluency, dialog, confirming understanding in conversation in addition to utilizing this multifaceted audio application. I believe this blueprint activity will elicit passion in language and technology for learners, teachers, and administrators.
Organizational Value Added
Reputation – Audacity is popular as users who have downloaded the software more than 7 million times. Audacity is highly rated by industry reviews from trusted sources like PC Magazine and CNet. The reputation is high for use in education, for podcasting, and by professionals: all of which project high quality upon users. The company was founded in 1999, has stood the test of time, and maintained a strong reputation for quality and affordable products.
Impression – The Audacity interface is modern and technical which is likely to impress students and staff. General public opinion of the software corroborates this claim. This application stands to increase potential learning significantly as the student time and mental faculty invested will be three times greater than the initial 10-15 minutes listening to and discussing the story. The students’ presentation delivers an audio artifact of students’ efforts. Through dialogic learning with an elder, and iterative language practice deepens ability and memory of the content.
Quality – Echoing facts from the reputation section above, a software product that survives and thrives for 20 years exudes quality. Quality is found in the functions afforded by the application as well as the quality of products it produces (e.g. MP3). Staff and students can trust the program to function consistently as expected on virtually any operating system. Students and storytellers can rely on this application to record and replay their presentations which can be saved in a number of file formats.
Reach of Investment – The potential for use in other language projects, additional college courses, and social media interaction is immense. Audio recording and editing technology has many applications that could benefit learning in this Higher Education environment. With efficient and affordable internet service, these recordings could be shared on social media, be contributed to a Native Wiki project, and immortalize stories important to cultural heritage. Audacity could be applied for years to come.
Conclusion
Integrating Audacity into the Oglala Lakota College curriculum is practical for the learning environment, is a worthwhile investment for the language program, staff, and students’ skills using languages and technology. Audacity is suggested as the popular, professional, reliable, and accessible tool for this lesson. The intended learning outcome of this blueprint is attainable to meet or exceed course objectives for use of language and technology. This thorough plan allows us to proceed with confidence and guidance to equip these learners with 21st Century knowledge and experiential skills for tomorrow’s evolving job market.
Appendix
Appendix A. Federal Communications Commission published Broadband coverage map and graph showing extent of use and speed of connection. Oglala County, South Dakota, the only off white county on the map, showing one provider serving 26% of homes in 2017.
References
Bower, Matt. “Affordance Analysis – Matching Learning Tasks with Learning Technologies.” Educational Media International 45, no. 1 (2008): 3-15. doi:10.1080/09523980701847115
“EDUCAUSE Horizon Report: 2019 Higher Education Edition.” Accessed June 18, https://library.educause.edu/-/media/files/library/2019/4/2019horizonreport.pdf?la=en&hash=C8E8D444AF372E705FA1BF9D4FF0DD4CC6F0FDD1.
FCC Fixed Broadband Deployment. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://broadbandmap.fcc.gov/#/area-summary?version=dec2017&type=county&geoid=46102&tech=acfosw&speed=25_3&vlat=43.35371851577261&vlon=-102.54112200000003&vzoom=7.6356704695290345
“Information and Communication Technologies for Formal Learning.” (2015) The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. doi:10.4135/9781483346397.n157.
Kim, C., & Keller, J. M. (2010). Motivation, volition and belief change strategies to improve mathematics learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 26, 407–420.
Kolb, D. A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in practice: Mind, mathematics and culture in everyday life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Oglala Lakota College Template. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://warehouse.olc.edu/local_links/policymanual/Section_70-79/70-000.php
Piaget, J. (1929). The child’s conception of the world. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.
Spector, J. Michael. “The SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Technology. Information and Communications Technologies: Competencies in the 21st Century Workforce” 2015. doi:10.4135/9781483346397.
Spector, J. Michael. “Foundations of Educational Technology.” 2013.doi:10.4324/9780203814192, 87-98.
Surry, D. W., Ensminger, D. C. and Haab, M. (2005), A model for integrating instructional technology into higher education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 36: 327–329. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2005.00461.x
U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/oglalalakotacountysouthdakota/COM100217#COM100217
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
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