Redefining Education through the Virtual Classroom

The article I read talked about how almost 300,000 high schoolers are attending online classes. (And that was estimated in 2002-2003!) Many take an online class to obtain access to classes their school may not offer, to gain more knowledge for college, or accommodate to a jammed schedule. Virtual schools and classes make available a whole new world of courses. For unique college electives to high school advanced placement classes, it challenges students to work independently and helps them portray time management and efficiency. Some advantages for using online classes are; the flexibility of courses, the easy access to teachers through email, the teacher can use live instruction to lecture, the course material can be given in many electronic formats, and the ease of not traveling a far distance to a classroom.
I have taken a total of three online classes in college so far and I absolutely love them! I do not live on campus so it makes it so much easier to not have to travel up to FGCU every time my class meets. It lightens up the amount of traveling making me feel more at ease and less stressed about driving 40 min to school every day. I love the fact that the teachers can be emailed and respond quickly for any problem. I also like that I can work on projects or class work at any time, not just a certain hour every week.
I think it would be great to know how Online Virtual Classrooms affect younger students such as middle schoolers or higher elementary. My brother is a sixth grader and he uses the computer for school work all the time. I think under the teacher’s supervision, having young students take quizzes on the computer or use Virtual Fieldtrips would help them learn how to use a Virtual Classroom in the future.

Article:
http://www.edutopia.org/high-school-dot-com

Video Streaming in Education

What is Video Streaming? Video Streaming is a great educational resource that gives students and teachers access to standard-based video programs instantly - over the Internet. It works by enabling the real time, or on-demand distribution of audio, video and multimedia on the internet. Streaming media is the simultaneous transfer of digital media (video, voice, and data) so that it is received as a continuous real-time stream. It is transmitted by a server application and received and displayed in real time bu client applications such as Microsoft Windows Media Player or the QuickTime Player. These applications can start displaying the video as soon as enough data has been received and stored in the station’s buffer.
Some benefits of using Video Streaming in Education are; being able to find video online for any subject and any grade (such as chemistry, general science, and language arts and reading.) Another use for video streaming in the classroom is to provide samples of lesson plans, teacher activities, guides, and correlations for teachers’ use. The dynamic content of Video Streaming catches students’ attention, helping to keep them focused on the lesson at hand.
I believe that there is a great deal of information about using Video Steaming in Education online and have not only included the cite to this article for your viewing but also links to other educational Video Website.
Article:
http://www.ripbs.org/Education/video_streaming.html
Other Educational Streaming Video Links:
http://streaming.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm (Check out this website by Discovery Channel! It is a awesome online group of Videos for students and teachers.)
http://edtech.guhsd.net/video.html (Video in Education)

Students and Teachers Hit the Podcasts

I am not very familiar with podcasting so this article from The New York Times, helped me not only learn how it can be used in education but also what Podcasting is. Podcasting is an audio recording online that can be heard through a computer or downloaded to a mobile device like an iPod. Currently, iTunes carried more then 400 educational podcasts from kindergarten through 12th grade classes and Yahoo has nearly 900 education-related podcasts. Many are produced by teachers wanting to reach other educators with teaching tips, while others are created by students for students.
Although students and teachers have been producing podcasts for years, typically with tape or reel-to-reel machines, podcasting is more popular and much easier. Educators say that they are much easier to edit digitally using a computer. One of the biggest difference though is that they are available to the world through the web.
One misconception teachers may have about podcasting is that they need an Ipod or other portable audio device to create and listen to podcasts. But the truth of the matter is you only need a computer and a microphone to record an educational podcast. The sound can be edited, and music and other audio elements can be easily added.
More information would be useful in the area of podcasts by seeing how they could help disabled students. Those who are blind, or have mental disablities. I think listening to a podcast could be a great way for these students to learn.
I have attached a link to a National Geographic Podcast that talk about the week’s top nature stories. This would be a great educational podcast in any science class of all ages! http://www.nationalgeographic.com/podcasts/ngnews.html

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/25/technology/techspecial2/25podcast.html

Web Based Material and Animation in the Classroom

After searching for a while to find a good article that combined web-based multimedia and animation, I came across an article called “Teaching Effectively with Multimedia.” It gave a great summary on how teachers have a great advantage today of using the internet to teach in a new and improved way.
The web combines animation, moving pictures, and sound to be incorporated into lessons to help students extend their abilities of a subject manner. For example, they can watch science experiments in action, see microorganisms up close, and use their mouse and keyboard to navigate through interactive material. Multimedia conveys information quickly and effectively to all students while keeping them interested in learning.
This article exclaims how school purchased multimedia works well (such as CD’s and videos) but they can be limited because of a schools budget. Another negative of these tools is that trying to set up a VCR and TV for video, or CD-ROM players can be challenging and finically difficult. Online multimedia makes it easy to reach out to students. Whether a teacher only has one computer in the classroom or several, they can not only take turns learning from the web but can find the same information and materials at the convenience of being in their own home.
More information and research should be done on using animation in the classroom. Also more articles on teaching and these two topics would be helpful for those who want to experiment with using multimedia in the classroom.

Article:
http://www.visionlearning.com/library/module_viewer.php?mid=87

Using Digital Images for Learning and Teaching

Digital Images are pictures that may have begun by commercially designed clipart or have been created by a student or teacher themselves. This visual imagery can be used to present thoughts and information to students in ways that help their understanding and engagement. More technology and web services help support digital images by offering learning, teaching, and assessment activities.
Some ideas to use with students digital imageries are as follows:
Using digital technologies when creating a poster can help them store, adapt and reuse easily. (This is exactly what ch. 5 in our textbook teaches us about!) Student posters are a great way to give examples and context using digital images.
Digital storytelling is something that I only heard of through this article. It provides a way of telling a personal narrative of individuals using images. A great example of digital storytelling can be viewed at http://www.youthtrainingproject.org/article.php?list=type&type=4
At this website you can view digital stories that are created by current and former foster youth. These young adults learn how to use the computer programs, write and record their own narration, include pictures, and choose soundtrack for their digital story.

I believe that in this technology era using digital images and all the activities that come along with that (such as digital storytelling) can be a great tool in teaching. Students not only will learn more about technology through this but will also learn how to be more creative too. More research would be helpful on how younger students, such as K-5th graders can participate in using digital images. Another great benefit is having a learning session for the students on how to use digital cameras, find clip art on the computer, find photographs through the internet, scan photos, and save and edit images on the computer.


The Article:
http://www.swap.ac.uk/elearning/ELTEP%20info%20sheet%203.pdf

Using Storyboarding as a Teaching Tool

Storyboarding is the use of a series of pictures in separate frames to outline or brainstorm ideas about how to tell a story. The article that I found concerning storyboarding discusses the theoretical underlining’s of a storyboard and explains the techniques for using this excise in a classroom.
Storyboards provide the visual component and the primary component, for communicating with one’s self as well as with others. For this reason, they serve as very powerful tools for learning and education, as well as for organizing thoughts, stories, and projects. It is simply a planning device used to sketch out the actions of a story. The objectives of a storyboard for students are: The student will demonstrate a basic understanding of culturally diverse written texts, they will apply knowledge of literary elements to understand diverse written text, they will use a variety of strategies, apply critical thinking skills, and produce an effective composition for a specific purpose.
Storyboarding allows students to draw their ideas before writing them in words. This helps visual students access the pictures in their head and gives them an opportunity to translate their picture ideas into words. I believe storyboarding is a great technique because as a visual person, I know I would be able to understand a story better due to the visualization of storyboarding. I believe they can be used from grades of kindergarten to high school, or even in the technology world such as, filmmaking, engineering, and writing books.
Teachers can assign storyboards as a prewriting activity or to help their students identify and analyze theme, and to make comparisons with different stories. One other way to use storyboarding in the classroom is to make one class storyboard. Have students draw a major event from the story that they are reading onto a post-it note. Make sure the students write a caption that depicts their scene. Each student can then stick their post-it note on a tag board in the order that the story occurred.
I would like to read more on storyboarding to find out how they can be used with technology. More research on student’s gained knowledge after using or creating a storyboard verse those who did not create a storyboard would also is very interesting.




Article:
http://b3308-adm.uhcl.edu/School_of_Education/SoE/Writing_Project/demo/demo05/CWallace.ppt

Teaching, Learning, and the use of Wikis

Article Link:
http://campustechnology.com/articles/40629_1/


As a college student in the time of rising technology, “wikis” are one technology topic that I have used frequently in the last few years of highschool and in college. A wiki is a software that allows users to create, edit, and link web pages easily. A wiki is a web communication and collaboration tool that can be used to help students in learning within the web environment.
The great article that I found was written by the University of Southern California in there search to implement various types of social software into the classroom. One of these being the use of wikis. They identified six general approaches for how wikis could be implemented in schooling or around there campus. The first approach that can be used within teaching and education is for student journaling. Teacher’s can have there students journal on a wiki to demonstrate writing skills, to expose there knowledge of a certain topic, and to benefit from peer and teaching review. The second reason why teacher’s may want to implement wiki’s into there classroom is for students own personal portfolios. Students are able to collect and organized digital resources such as notes, images, web resources, and PowerPoint slides. Another way wikis can be used in education is by having the students work on a project together. This can be done by allowing them to work in small groups on a larger class project, or to have the students as a whole create and maintain the course Web site. The forth approach is by using a wiki as a research tool. This is something that I have done in the past. By having multiple collaborators collect ideas, papers, timelines, and documents it makes it easy for a student to do research on one topic and from one website. Another positive to using a wiki is for teachers to organize common course assets, such as syllabi, office hours, and assessments, without having to actually meet. The sixth general use for a wiki is for the use of conferences and meetings. By allowing presenters and attendees access to add and edit content, the conference wiki can serve as a resource before, during, and after the event.
I do believe that further research needs to be done in the area of the ages of students using wiki’s and how easy or hard it is for a student to use or make a wiki themselves. I believe students in highschool probably will have a greater use for wiki’s in the classroom but can younger students benefit from wiki’s too? The article I read pinpointed older college students, making me wonder if wiki’s are more for young adults then any other age group. I think this would be useful for those of us who will be teaching younger students not older highschoolers or college students.

Blog Basics-Blogging and Teaching!

The Article:
http://teachingtoday.glencoe.com/howtoarticles/blog-basics

Prior to writing about how teaching and blogging can be used together I must first write on what blogging is and how it works. A blog is a web tool that allows people to self-publish text, pictures, links to websites, and much more content. Blogs are very easy to use because they require minimum technical knowledge and are quick and easy to create and maintain. Not only can they be used for fun and with no specific reason but they can be used by teachers to create a classroom that extends beyond the boundaries of the school building.
The article I read gave so much insight on how to use a blog in (and out) of the classroom and what basic functions a blog can sever as an educational tool. The first basic function is classroom management. A blog can be used to inform students of class requirements, handouts, charts and pictures of a topic, notices, homework assignments, and even be used as a question and answer board. The second use for blogging as a teacher is to provide space where teachers and students alike can develop better writing skills with the advantage of an instant audience. Teachers can give instructional tips and help their students while out of the classroom. Thirdly a blog opens up the opportunity for great discussion between classmates and the teacher. Everyone can express their ideas and opinions and network and conference with on the blog. Lastly blogs protect students work as a digital portfolio. As students realize their work will be published they will be motivated to produce better writing and less likely to copy someone else’s work.
I believe that teaching through the technology of blogging is a great way to communicate with students and provide a powerful tool outside of the classroom. I do think the students must be in older grade levels, such as grades 6-12 (Middle school and highschool) to really benefit from a blog and to use it to it’s fullest potential.
I can see myself as a teacher using a blog to post homework assignments, post pictures and data on things we are learning in the classroom, provide discussion boards to ask questions and receive answers from students, and answer students questions on any problems they are having with assignments and grades.
I attached a link below to a 7th grade classroom “math” blog and how they use it regarding math outside the classroom.
http://verity7math.blogspot.com/2005/04/linear-patterns.html

Virtual Field Trips-Week 2

Week 2: Virtual Field Trips
Article Link: http://www.ccsdedtech.com/cc/projects/fieldtrip.htm

Virtual Fields trips are something I had no experience with, or had even heard about, before this class. But as I read more article’s and information on what a virtual field trip was, I was able to understand and grasp the importance of this technology and why it is such a useful tool in the classroom.
Virtual Field Trips are a technological tool that are created by the teacher for the students in order that they may virtually visit a place that they may not be able to go otherwise. Students are not only entertaining themselves on an educational website, but are reinforcing themselves with information the teacher is instructing in the classroom. VFT can even be created before going on a regular field trip in order to prepare the students for what they will soon take part in. Another way to use virtual fieldtrips in the classroom is to use them after the actual fieldtrip has taken place. Such as a reinforcer the adventure that took place prior to the virtual field trip.
My personal opinion on using a virtual fieldtrip wep page is to use it on its own without taking a trip to the certain location. For example, if a teacher was educating on the rainforest for the next 2 weeks, he/she could create a virtual fieldtrip of the rainforests’ ecosystem, the animals and people who live in the rainforest, what types of rainforest’s there are, and include activities and quizzes for the children to take to help strengthen what they have been taught in the classroom.
Virtual fieldtrips can be made by using Microsoft, Mac programs, and Photoshop technology. Virtual fieldtrips can include audio, videos, weblinks, text, and graphics to help create the effect of visiting a certain location.

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Hey! trying to figure out the blog and find my way around the website!