Technology in Education

To complete this quest on social media and virtual worlds I decide to read the following articles: “Second Life in higher education: Assessing the potential for and the barriers to deploying virtual worlds in learning and teaching” by Steven Warburton, “A taxonomy of virtual worlds usage in education”, by Ishbel Duncan, Alan Miller and Shangyi Jiang, and “8 Real Ways Facebook Enriched Ms. Schoening’s First Grade Class”, by Lisa Nielsen. After reading “Second Life in higher education: Assessing the potential for and the barriers to deploying virtual worlds in learning and teaching” (Warburton, 2009) and “A taxonomy of virtual worlds usage in education” (Duncan et al.), I learned about the usage of the virtual world Second Life in education. However, I do not see myself using this in an elementary classroom. On the other hand, I do see how this virtual world can be a great tool for the older students. In Duncan and colleagues’ article, they described different ways of teaching and learning through virtual worlds such as: Problem Based Learning, Virtual Quest, Collaborative Construction, Virtual Field Works, and several other opportunities. I believe that these opportunities are very intriguing and very worthwhile if done correctly. Using virtual worlds would enhance a students learning and help them prepare for a career in that area of expertise. Honestly, the opportunities go above and beyond Video Game Designers or Programmers. Careers such as Architecture, Landscape Design, and Interior Decorating could greatly benefit from virtual worlds as well. In comparison, Warburton’s article listed several educational activities that are beneficial from Second Life. Such activities include: creative writing, living and immersive archaeology, language and cultural immersion, self paced tutorials, and so many more. Once again, virtual worlds can, I believe, most definitely develop more cognitive thinking skills, which lead to individual discovery, and collaboration skills. Like I stated above, however, I do not think Second Life would be appropriate for the age level that I teach. I would honestly love to find such a virtual world that I could introduce to my students. I can remember playing Sims all throughout my childhood. Little did I know I was actually learning. For example, you must build and live within a budget, maintain a job, and live everyday life. Whether it prepared me for my future is undetermined, but as I look back I can see how it could have and may be it did. The last article I read, I absolutely loved, “8 Real Ways Facebook Enriched Ms. Schoening’s First Grade Class” (Nielsen, 2010). Yes, several of the teachers where I am employed have classroom Facebook page. No, they do not do all of the amazing things that I read about in the article. Unfortunately, or not so unfortunate, I do not have my own homeroom since I’m a resource teacher. However, no one said that Ms. Weaver couldn’t have a Facebook page. As Nielsen explained in her article, most parents have Facebook and it’s easy access. So what better way than to stay connected with the parents so quickly and easily? Having a classroom role of “student reporters” to manage and update the page is a great leadership role and I can foresee in my future classroom. I believe my students would fight over that leadership role. Also, having students, themselves, video and take pictures throughout a field trip and post it on the page would be an awesome way for the parents that were unable to attend see the fun that we had. I also love the fact of videoing myself with different techniques on how to solve the dreaded GoMath problems or ways to help students study at home. I imagine the parents would be very happy to have all of these opportunities right at the tip of their fingertips. Literally.

References

Duncan, I., Miller, A., & Jiang, S. (2012). A taxonomy of virtual worlds usage in education. British Journal of Educational Technology, 43(6), 949-964. DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2011.01263.x

Nielsen, L. (2010, July 15). 8 Real Ways Facebook Enriched Ms. Schoening’s First Grade Class. Retrieved from http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2010/07/8-real-ways-facebook-enriched-ms.html

Warburton, S. (2009). Second Life in higher education: Assessing the potential for and the barriers to deploying virtual worlds in learning and teaching. British Journal of Educational Technology, 40(3), 414-426. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2009.00952.x.

My Podcast Journey

I first downloaded Audacity to my MacBook Air. Once I did so, I began to play around and add effects and found it very simple to use. To cut a clip out, I highlighted it and pressed “command” and “x” to cut the clip. I did this several times on my final podcast, because I went over five minutes and I had a bunch of pauses throughout it that I didn’t want. Once I finished talking, I added some effects. Similar to cutting a portion out of the podcast, I highlighted the section in which I wanted the effect and chose either “generate” or “effect” on the tool bar at the top of the screen and selected the effect that I wanted to use. I also overlapped two effect; for example, at the end of my podcast I added pink noise and faded it out to end my show. Unfortunately, I thought I was almost finished and discovered very quick that I wasn’t. After doing some research, I found out that I must save the audio as an MP3. In order to do so, I had to download Lame. I had to download it and put it on my desktop s it was easy for me to find once I saved my audio. When saving, I clicked “File”, “Export Audio”, changed the format to MP3, and then saved it to my desktop. I had to go through many, many trial and errors to figure out how to save my audio as an MP3.

 My podcast explained the different uses that I could use them in my classroom. I provided several examples of incorporating the Common Core Standards and also explained how they can help my students become better readers. I feel that my “hands-on-learning” students would not only benefit from creating podcasts, but would actually enjoy creating them. The audience for my podcast is directed towards education majors and/or teachers that are interested in using podcasts in their classrooms.

 Devon Weaver's podcast

Graphic Organizers

I really enjoyed conquering this quest. I found it fun and rather interesting and I believe that my students would feel the same way. I used Kidspiration to create my graphic organizers. I love the fact that it is very "kid-friendly" and has simple pictures and sayings that help the students who struggle with reading navigate around the program. I took screen shots of my final products and converted them to PDF files.

What's Happening in My Field

After searching through several online journal articles, I stumbled across the article entitled, "Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs" and found it very interesting. I am currently working as a Resource teacher and when I decided to return to school to become a Media Specialist I began thinking of different ideas that I could do as the Librarian. Things such as different activities that teach the Common Core Standards and Project Based Learning. As a Special Education teacher I see first hand how the affect of reading has on those students who score low in reading. I feel that this article supported my reasoning behind teaching to not the group as a whole, but to each individuals' level. According to the American Association of School Librarians (2009),"Guiding principles for school library media programs must focus on building a flexible learning environment with the goal of producing successful learners skilled in multiple literacies" (p. 64). The word "flexible" is how I want my future library to be and excite the students who visit it. I believe that if I can provide a library that encourages students and display their strengths, that I may encourage them to become better readers and challenge themselves. The article also explains the that library should strengthen the use of technology and evidence-base learning that is influenced by our community (p. 64). This I find very important as our society is moving more toward technology and working together to achieve certain goals. The library is a great place to supplement the projects that the students are completing in their general education classroom. As I continue through my graduate studies, I plan on reading more articles, like this one, that will help me prepare to be the media specialist/librarian that I have always dreamed of being. Link to the original article http://eric.ed.gov/?q=library+media&id=ED509424 Reference Empowering Learners: Guidelines for School Library Media Programs." American Association of School Librarians (NJ3). (2009): 64. Web..

I am excited to be retuning to South to receive my Masters Degree as a Library Media Specialist. I cannot wait to see what my future holds! :)