Introduction
ACOT project which stands for Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow has emerged as one of the ground-breaking exercises in acquiring new philosophies of education. Having been established in 1985, it has focused on longitudinal studies and progress in partnership with government schools, universities, and research organizations. It was aimed at investigating the link between teaching and learning with the regular utilization of technology. These were done in selected schools which were taken based on the socioeconomic levels and the location of communities. This evolution started with a single classroom in each of the selected schools with expansion continuing with time. The selection process was done by the various schools and ACOT provided all the relevant equipment (Kovalchick & Dawson, 2004, 26-33). Blogs on the other hand are parts or types of websites maintained by people who add content for readers. Some of them are used as online diaries while others give news and updates (Johnson, 2009, p. 1). This paper will attempt to study ACOT Project and Blogs in the following steps.
ACOT Project
ACOT project lists the five levels of successful integration of teachers in technology. These include: Entry level; where the teacher understands the basics of technology that is available, Adoption; which is the level at which the use of the learned technology is used to accomplish effectiveness, Adaptation; a stage in which the teacher integrates the new techniques learnt into the classroom by involving the active participation of
students for productivity, Appropriation; a stage where the focus is shifted to cooperation and projects in the use of technology and lastly Invention, where new discoveries for the use of technology are ascertained (Kovalchick & Dawson, 2004, pp. 26-33).
While the first three levels involve active participation and learning by the teacher, it is in these stages that the technology gets to the teacher, who learns how to integrate it into the students, the last two stages involve students active involvement in the technology and this is where they are put in projects to open their minds for inventions and innovations in the use of technology. The first three stages can be considered as stages of conception while the last two as stages of the utilization of the techniques taught. Teachers work for success at level 4, where the students are actively involved in projects to stimulate their inventions. The teachers reported progress in communication, internal ideas, logic, memory, and collaboration from students that attended the exercise in our school (Kovalchick & Dawson, 2004, pp. 26-33).
Blogs
Students are to be guided from inappropriate content in the blogs, this can be done by encouraging students to take blogs as classes, and will help them engage in discussions as well as debates with other bloggers. The blogs should be used as forums; this will give the student a chance to express their opinion and thoughts which will help the teachers understand them better. However, strict stipulations should be put in the policies to curb violations of the agreements such as banning the culprits from accessing the internet plus any relevant sanctions by the school to avert indiscipline.
There is various blogging software, these include WordPress, PHP, and Apache Roller among others. Apache Roller is a Java blog software that powers ‘blog.usa.gov’, among others. It allows one to develop a full multi-user server that can contain all types of blogging spots and enables unlimited users, forums, and many exciting features (Johnson, 2009, p. 1).
Conclusion
ACOT has been evolutional in helping students acquire new skills, inventions, internal ideas among others. However more should be done to expand it to many institutions for equity. In addition, the use of blogs by students is very helpful as they can interact at a different level and share their internal ideas. Nonetheless, they should be protected from bad content. Generally, ACOT and Blogs can interact as students share their ideas from ACOT on Blogs (Kovalchick & Dawson, 2004, 26-33).
References
- Johnson, M.D. (2009). Apache Roller 4.0 Beginners Guide.
- Kovalchick A. & Dawson K. (Eds.). (2004). Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow Project (ACOT). Education and Technology: an encyclopedia, Volume 2. California. Web.