Constructivism: Exactly what we want our students to be.

Cooperative learning, Inquiry, Project based, these are all terms that have come up in my career as an Education student. Little did I know that they are key ways to use a constructivists approach to teaching. In order to explore constructivism we individually and cooperatively took part in two web quests. One focused on the different facets of constructivist learning and the other looked at the 5 E's of Inquiry. The main idea behind taking part in the Web Quests was that we want our students to look into the topics we are studying with curiosity and drive. We want them to foster discussion amongst our selves. Even though direct instruction is needed, it is always a great feeling when our students can discuss with each other and come up with meaningful questions for us teachers. The web quest is a good tool to use because its technology based and the teacher can pose the questions and its up to the students to use their critical thinking skills to make it through the  quest and arrive at an answer. In order to show what we learned this past week, our group made an animated video about constructivism connectivism, which is what we read about in our weekly reading. We used the site xtranormal to make the video. There were plenty of different scenarios and characters to use within the free trial that I signed up for. This was my week to run the meeting. I had a few technological mishaps at first but my group was really able to help me. We really are getting better and better at using the tech equipment. Using this video program was interesting, I have always wanted to use a video creation program but didn't even really know where to start. The tutorial was easy to follow and made it easier to input the dialogue. Our video with some really intelligent bears is here!

We looked into connectivism for our readings this week. They focused in on if and when does social media have a place in the classroom. For me, even after doing the readings and seeing the possible outcomes from using social media in my lessons I am still wary. My attention went directly to the the article entitled "Social Media tools can boost productivity."  The article presents information about how a Doctor is using a Facebook like site to help his small business. He said the connected-ness of the site makes it easy to communicate. As much as I think maybe a social media tool might help us as college students I do not think I would be comfortable using it with my own students. The chance of distraction or using the site for other reasons is too great. I was happy to see that Dropbox was on the list for the Web 2.0 tools. I only recently started using it to communicate with my employer in Austria to send documents but it is very user friendly and its easier to use then a zip drive!

My first how- to -video!

So last week while we were on Spring Break I had the opportunity to create not only my first real video, but also create my first Wiki. I used the screen recording device Screencast o matic. I was a bit worried about this project at first. Not only have I only recently been introduced to Wiki's but I have never made a video where I am not looking into the camera and speaking. First I conducted some research about Wiki's for English as a Second Language. I had to keep in mind that the students I will be teaching English to, will only just be beginning their English language careers. So I decided that any Wiki I will make will need to remain simple and have valuable resources. I looked at teachers who were American and were or are currently working with students in another country. I found one particular Wiki from A man named Michael Griffin who works with Korean students. His wiki includes many many resources for his students to use along with a list of commonly made mistakes. I knew I wanted my Wiki to contain resources that were specifically geared towards middle school age, German speaking students. I made a very simple Wiki for this video project. The creation of the Wiki could not have been easier and the navigation panels on the side of the Wiki are really easy to use. Iw as able to add several pages to the Wiki such ass Assignments, Writing etc. See my Wiki here.  I think that using this Wiki will be a great way to reinforce what I do during the day with my students. If I keep the language simple on the Wiki and have a tutorial on how to use it, much like the video I created, then I think it could be successful. My video can be seen on Screencast o matic's site. It was easy to sign up for this recording site and the directions for how to set your volume, arrange the screen and navigation my presentation were very easy to follow.

Learning how to use this screen recording device was an excellent experience for me. It will be interesting to see how I can use it in my future classroom in Austria. It would be a really great thing if I was able to put these videos on the Wiki and give my students even more reinforcement!

The Ups and Downs of Internet Availability

I think that we have all found ourselves at one point or another looking at a computer screen in our respective school, frustrated and angry that we cannot access helpful supplements for our lessons because the Internet is so heavily censored. It happened to me one day in a class where I wanted to show a clip from the film 1776, which is a relatively light hearted but still good depiction of the American Revolution. The clip I wanted to show was a conversation between the Ben Franklin character and the John Adams character, there was nothing inappropriate about it but I could not show it. I went to the IT department and requested access to the site. I was told that if I was given access then the kids would want it and then they would have  "major problem." Ms. Bennett makes a good point that our students have access to the Internet at home and can access what we want them to see there but once they enter school, they cannot. I would love for all my students to be able to watch what I want them to watch but there is also the ever looming possibility that there will always be those students who will ruin it. Unless the students were being monitored in what they were searching for I think unblocking Internet access would be a difficult thing to do. Having full access to the Internet in school can be pretty great for a teacher. If I could use resources like the BBC network or the Smithsonian site, I believe that it would only enhance my lessons. Youtube can be a gift and a curse. The English Companion Website is a great resource. I love the idea that there are specific websites for each subject that teachers can join. After getting approval from the administrator the user has full permission to explore and take part in discussions and even be a part of book clubs! Which for a teacher who loves to use literature in my lessons, I think this is a wonderful idea. There are both online events as well as other conferences that are advertised on the website. There are several different sections on the site for reading, writing and even using Wiki's with your students.

Video is the new... everything.

After browsing through this weeks reading resources I began to think about how much online video I actually watch. From the video resources we have for our class, to German language tutorials I watch to better my language skills, to music videos and funny clips I am on the Internet a lot. A whole lot. As an educator I now use the Internet as a vast resource to find material including video clips that I can share with my students. The first article that intrigued me was the Educause article. We all want to make presentations for our students that keep their attention and will be memorable for them. This article uses the TED conference videos to show why these productions are so successful and interesting. The speakers are concise and too the point with what they want to convey to the audience. They use technology and screen sharing to show the audience what they are all about. I enjoy watching TED for these specific reasons. I am beginning to understand that if TED talks can use technology in this way, why cant my students?
Pew Internet reports that 71% of adults will use a video sharing site. And 92% of the people poled within the 18- 29 age bracket use these sites. It was almost startling to think how many people actually use these sites for entertainment, learning and communication. Of course we all know how great open learning can be especially the Open Course Ware system from MIT. Obviously the way our students acquire information is changing, I myself own a tablet and now read almost exclusively from it. The idea that learning with be only online was something I began to think about after reading Marc Parry's article about Alexandra Juhasz's book that is only available online and her technology only class. She had her students make videos instead of writing papers and had them watch online seminars and videos.   I have never really seen a class like this before. I believe the core idea behind all of these articles this week is that the video sharing world is an opportunity for our students to collaborate on a level that they never have before. The video projects that they can create can be shown all over the world and can start some pretty significant discussions.