An interesting this happened this week. As I was reading through the article "How People are Using Twitter during Conferences," (http://lamp.tu-graz.ac.at/%7Ei203/ebner/publication/09_edumedia.pdf) I realized that the article was based our of the University of Graz where I will be living next year. I had actually heard about Twitter use during school days from my boyfriend who attends this University presently. It was hard for me to take this seriously because I often get annoyed that people are on their phones or on the computer when an important discussion is taking place. However, as I was reading about the study I learned more about Twitter. Since I do not have one and have never been really interested in the social media site, I realized its possible use during a conference. People can have separate conversations about the topic at hand and can answer questions that may be posed. Even though most of the people during the study used Twitter for making their online presence or conversing with others, I can see the options Twitter can provide.
Since I had my eyes opened to Twitter I decided that I would delve into the article "Living in Cyworld" by Jaz Hee-jeong Choi. It seems that while I have been only been getting used to all the changes on my Facebook, there is a whole other world in South Korea where each citizen has their own private web space, that can be a large or small as they want and have this vast expansive world online. The idea behind the "hompy" or homepage is that each person should be culturally aware of their fellow man and through this online community South Koreans can do that. When I was reading about Cyworld, I was truly amazing at how complicated and complex the network it. There is no anonymous blogging in Cyworld, people must provide their real names and even their citizen numbers! Groups you belong to or your chon to other people can help you stay connected with family, friends and even coworkers. People will use avatars and other online icons to decorate their pages. It seems to me that Cyworld is Facebooks, older, more intelligent and organized brother. As much as I was fascinated by the article, it seems a bit too intense for this slow moving tech gal!
After last weeks conference about Open Course Ware, I was ready to dive right into the article "College 2.0: More professors Could Share Lectures Online. But, Should They?"by Jeffery R. Young. this article was about everything that I had in my head during the MIT Open Course Ware conference. Many teachers are afraid to record their lectures because of numerous reasons like the material being stolen or even the teacher being made fun of. These are fears that I have myself and it was nice to hear that even veteran teachers feel as well. Technology is quickly consuming the "traditional" classroom. We use Web 2.0 tools and have our students exclusively work on the computer to create projects and assignments but what about what the teacher has to show? If a teacher decides to show their lectures online, should they keep it a closed private session, or should they join the Open Course Ware revolution? These are things that I have been thinking about myself. When the time comes for me to put myself and my craft online, will I be comfortable with it? I think over time and with more experience will help my make a decision about this.
When I saw "oral histories" on this weeks forums I have to be honest, I really didn't have an idea what that meant. But after going on the Storycorps website I was both intrigued and excited about the prospect of using this tool. the basis of the site is that people can record their life stories for the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress for free and receive a CD of their story. It is a part of a massive online human project that helps to spread people's stories and cultures. What is really great about Storycorps is that teachers can use the stories within the project as lesson supplements. There is even a section on "College Readiness" which would have been great to have when I was a freshman!
Friday, February 22, 2013
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Web 2.0: Making our Lives a Little Easier
After exploring the Web 2.0 tools extensively over the past week I was finally able to choose a tool that I felt would be most beneficial for students that I will and have worked with. I chose to use Glogster Edu as my medium with creating a poster/newsletter about a a writing tool that I have never seen before, but have become very excited about. I did a poster about using bookr . Bookr happens to be an extremely user friendly site about creating online books with pictures from the internet. The student types in the kind of pictures they want in their story and they can then add it to the text they have typed in at the bottom of the page. This site is also very amusing in the fact that the student can use their mouse to turn the page at the end just like a real book. I could see this program being used by grade 5 all the way up to 12. The student can then email their story to the teacher for easy grading or feedback. Truly a great tool for any teacher.
Open Course Ware: Free Classes that you never knew about!
The second meeting I attended on Monday was a really interesting and eye opening conference about the Open Course Ware movement at MIT. We were lucky enough to have Steve Carson from MIT speak to us about the creation and implementation about the system as well as its growth and effect on the world of online learning. Before attending the conference on an Adobe conference site ( very user friendly and super clear video), we read two articles about the system and have to formulate two questions. My main question through the realign and the conference was, day by day I am learning about the power and effectiveness of online learning but, what happens when the day comes and the whole college is experience is eliminated because you no longer need to go to school at all? This bothered me while reading about the program, and then I read an article about how Yale, one of our most prestigious universities will not use open course ware because they feel like their students will not truly be a part of the Yale experience if they are obtaining their degrees from the other side of the world. What happens when we lose all human to human contact in the classroom, even a College one? Curtis, the other speaker present at the conference explained that their are many cases where student cannot attended class regularly due to outside circumstances. Would I deny learning to my students because they couldn't get to school? The answer would be a resounding no, but that being said, watching a class on the computer screen will never be the same for me.
Open Course Ware is a free, user friendly service that is available at numerous universities and countries around the world. The only downside from using this system is that it is non credited.
Open Course Ware is a free, user friendly service that is available at numerous universities and countries around the world. The only downside from using this system is that it is non credited.
The Flat Classroom Experience : a new way to look at connection students and teacher
So this past Monday I attended to different online meetings. The first was for the Flat Classroom Project which was a completely new concept for me. Basically over the next few weeks my fellow class mates and I will be working as advisors for high school students who are creating videos and wikis to explain and explore specific technology concepts. A few weeks ago I joined the project as well as the projects Ning. The Ning was something entirely new to me. On it, are several groups of Teachers, advisors, students and other participants in the project and with the Ning you can share ideas, make comments on how you are doing with the project and even communicate with other advisors. One of the founders of the project Julie, gave a really great presentation on how to navigate both the Ning and the main project Wiki. I felt a little more at ease about taking on this project after our meeting. In order to watch this meeting we used the Blackboard conference program. This was a little more complicated to use then the WizIQ program we have used in the past and there was a little difficulty actually getting into the conference. The project has many components to it and could perhaps be a little confusing, however, after writing Julie, who gave me a quick and informative response I was able to make my way through the project with no problem.
After getting onto the project Wiki and learning how to edit and reading about each project, I am really looking forward to working with my students and watching the other projects grow. I expect that my role in the project will probably be just a guiding hand in how to organize and how to try and help the students convey their topics as best they can to their audience.
After getting onto the project Wiki and learning how to edit and reading about each project, I am really looking forward to working with my students and watching the other projects grow. I expect that my role in the project will probably be just a guiding hand in how to organize and how to try and help the students convey their topics as best they can to their audience.
Monday, February 4, 2013
Our First Conference: The Mount Loyalist and our Glog
So tonight our little group " The Mount Loyalists" met for our first private group meeting. Our facilitator for the evening was so well prepared that is was a smooth operation! The first thing we did was discuss our "Getting to Know Me" projects. It seems that pretty much all of us had heard of the mediums we had used (Voki, Prezi, Wordle) but had never really explored the possibilities they could produce. I have to say that I am learning so much from my peers that I think I will gain all sorts of new tricks of the technology trade.
We then discussed the readings and video from both last week and this week. We discussed who the Millennial student is and how teachers must change in order to help them achieve all that they can. I think we were all in agreement that today's student works fast, and is a great multi-tasker and truly wants their teacher to put more technology into the lesson.
We had a great time making our name card. Through Google Docs we were able to all work together at the same time to make the card the way we wanted. It is bright and cheery and highlights some labels that we feel like describe the members in our group. After discussing the readings from this week more, we found that we all feel that even though some of us are apprehensive about using so much tech in our lessons, we know change is unavoidable.
Our Glog came out great. We were able to find photos, a few videos and links that we felt describe both millennial students and the 21st century teacher. All in all I felt like this conference was a huge success!
We then discussed the readings and video from both last week and this week. We discussed who the Millennial student is and how teachers must change in order to help them achieve all that they can. I think we were all in agreement that today's student works fast, and is a great multi-tasker and truly wants their teacher to put more technology into the lesson.
We had a great time making our name card. Through Google Docs we were able to all work together at the same time to make the card the way we wanted. It is bright and cheery and highlights some labels that we feel like describe the members in our group. After discussing the readings from this week more, we found that we all feel that even though some of us are apprehensive about using so much tech in our lessons, we know change is unavoidable.
Our Glog came out great. We were able to find photos, a few videos and links that we felt describe both millennial students and the 21st century teacher. All in all I felt like this conference was a huge success!
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Internet Searching: Not So Simple!
Like many other people, I use Google like a life saving device. Medical questions, recipes, research and even celebrity news have always been answered by the search engine. After taking part in todays 1 o clock conference entitled, "Searching the Internet: A Tale of Fisher(wo)men and Stargazers" my eyes were opened to a world full of search engines that could most likely give me better and more accurate results. I really enjoyed how Ms. Starkmeth created her presentation. She arranged it by using the analogy that internet searching is just like fishing. It takes time, preparation, the right tools and a wide net!
I learned a lot from this presentation. This fist being that even before you search for an item or article you need to be aware that our beloved Google is not going to have all the answers. There are many other engines like bing and meta search engines that will result in many more options for your search. The most important thing I took away from this conference was that the Internet is at my disposal and there are so many more tools for me to use.
Pedagogy of Engagement with Dr. Smirnova
Today at 10 A.M I took part in the web conference with Dr. Smirnova. Her project was not only informative but I gained so many new tools that I just cant wait to use them! I really enjoyed using the Socrative website. Once I got familiar with it, I had many ideas of how to use it with my future students. I could se using it for an ice breaking activity or even a quick end of the week quiz. Many of our students are so tech- savvy now that I cant see anyone really having an issue with it. I have to admit that I am somewhat stubborn about using technology in the classroom, just like that teacher in the traditional room we saw. Another participant in the conference wrote in the chat box that many of the students and teachers are not willing to change to the flip classroom because they are uncomfortable with it, but after seeing that video Dr. S had put up about how by 2020 smart phones will be the main medium for Internet use, the traditionalists will really have no choice but to update the way they teach.
But after viewing her presentation about empowering students and using a flip classroom method, I am really warming up to the idea of adding tools like Voki and Prezi in my classroom.
I appreciated how Dr. S separated her presented into sections ( Creating to Engage, Communicating to Engage etc.) That made the presentation easier to follow and I was able to copy down many of the tools she mentioned. In the past hour I have looked at scoop.it as well as Pinterest and am intrigued by how user friendly they are.
But after viewing her presentation about empowering students and using a flip classroom method, I am really warming up to the idea of adding tools like Voki and Prezi in my classroom.
I appreciated how Dr. S separated her presented into sections ( Creating to Engage, Communicating to Engage etc.) That made the presentation easier to follow and I was able to copy down many of the tools she mentioned. In the past hour I have looked at scoop.it as well as Pinterest and am intrigued by how user friendly they are.
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