Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Journal 10: Alligators in the Sewers? Really?
This article focused on building media literacy with English Language Learners. Media literacy refers to the ability not only to understand what you read, hear and see but also to evaluate and make good decisions about what various media presents. To become more media literate, teachers and students need to practice critical thinking skills, i.e. analysis, inference, evaluation, etc. English Language Learners have difficulty with gaining media literacy because of lack of exposure, misunderstandings about the veracity of Internet-based information, a lack of markers stating if something is meant as a joke or farce, and cultural backgrounds make it difficult for ELLs to understand what they have read.
This article discussed how teachers can build media literacy using critical thinking skills by using urban legends found on the Internet. The example that was used in the article was the urban legend about alligators in the sewers. The purpose of an urban legend lesson would be for students to a. judge the credibility of sources b. identify judgement, reasons, assumptions c. judge the quality of an argument d. develop and defend a position on an issue e. ask appropriate clarifying questions.
Question #1? What age/grade level can this type of lesson be used? I would recommend using this type of lesson for middle school students. In middle school they are beginning to explore the credibility of sources and I believe this type of lesson would be fun and interesting for the students.
Question #2: How can a teacher model critical thinking skills and media literacy? Teachers can perform think alouds while searching for resources and deciding how credible/truthful they might be, and ask essential questions.
Egbert, Joy (2009, May). Alligators in the Sewers? Really?. Learning and Leading, Retrieved 05/04/2009, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200905/
This article discussed how teachers can build media literacy using critical thinking skills by using urban legends found on the Internet. The example that was used in the article was the urban legend about alligators in the sewers. The purpose of an urban legend lesson would be for students to a. judge the credibility of sources b. identify judgement, reasons, assumptions c. judge the quality of an argument d. develop and defend a position on an issue e. ask appropriate clarifying questions.
Question #1? What age/grade level can this type of lesson be used? I would recommend using this type of lesson for middle school students. In middle school they are beginning to explore the credibility of sources and I believe this type of lesson would be fun and interesting for the students.
Question #2: How can a teacher model critical thinking skills and media literacy? Teachers can perform think alouds while searching for resources and deciding how credible/truthful they might be, and ask essential questions.
Egbert, Joy (2009, May). Alligators in the Sewers? Really?. Learning and Leading, Retrieved 05/04/2009, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200905/
Journal 9: The Kids are All Right
This article was based on digital media and learning initiative that the JOHN D. AND CATHERINE T. MacArthur Foundation started three years ago. This study,
“Kids' Informal Learning With Digital Media: An Ethnographic Investigation of Innovative Knowledge Cultures," was looking at the impact of digital media and communications technologies on how young people will learn in the future/now. A team of 28 researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley, interviewed more than 800 young people and their parents over a three-year period. They spent more than 5,000 hours observing teens on websites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and other networked communities. The researchers believe that their findings will help educators understand how young people learn and develop social skills online. The awareness gained by the study will allow teachers to better understand their students’ motivation, and shorten the gap the digital age has created between teacher and student.
There are three levels of kid’s online participation; Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out. Hanging Out refers to the basic level of kids socializing, researchers call it lightweight social contact. It's the use of mobile phones, Facebook, and MySpace. Messing Around refers to self directed exploration where students are exploring an interest. They are learning about the process of finding and retrieving information. Geeking Out is intense interaction and a high level interest in media and technology. Researchers call it "intensive mobilizing" where people share resources and information.
Question #1: Should kids be spending a lot of time online; on Facebook and MySpace? The research shows that this type of learning is empowering for students. It is creating a tech-savvy generation that participates in self-directed learning where students are learning on their own terms and schedules.
Question #2: Is online learning transferable to the classroom? Yes, teachers need to relinquish control. The research shows that what students learn in the virtual world (the skills) are transferable to the classroom and real world application.
Waters, John, K (march, 2009). The Kids are All Right. T-H-E Journal, Retrieved 4/27/2009, from http://www.thejournal.com/articles/24104
“Kids' Informal Learning With Digital Media: An Ethnographic Investigation of Innovative Knowledge Cultures," was looking at the impact of digital media and communications technologies on how young people will learn in the future/now. A team of 28 researchers at the University of Southern California and the University of California, Berkeley, interviewed more than 800 young people and their parents over a three-year period. They spent more than 5,000 hours observing teens on websites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and other networked communities. The researchers believe that their findings will help educators understand how young people learn and develop social skills online. The awareness gained by the study will allow teachers to better understand their students’ motivation, and shorten the gap the digital age has created between teacher and student.
There are three levels of kid’s online participation; Hanging Out, Messing Around, Geeking Out. Hanging Out refers to the basic level of kids socializing, researchers call it lightweight social contact. It's the use of mobile phones, Facebook, and MySpace. Messing Around refers to self directed exploration where students are exploring an interest. They are learning about the process of finding and retrieving information. Geeking Out is intense interaction and a high level interest in media and technology. Researchers call it "intensive mobilizing" where people share resources and information.
Question #1: Should kids be spending a lot of time online; on Facebook and MySpace? The research shows that this type of learning is empowering for students. It is creating a tech-savvy generation that participates in self-directed learning where students are learning on their own terms and schedules.
Question #2: Is online learning transferable to the classroom? Yes, teachers need to relinquish control. The research shows that what students learn in the virtual world (the skills) are transferable to the classroom and real world application.
Journal 7: Grow Your Personal Learning Network
PLNs, Personal Learning Network, are not new and in this ever-changing, technology rich environment and it is imperative as an educator to educate yourself about these new (or old, depending on how technologically savvy you are) technologies and learning networks. There are three main types of PLNs: Personally Maintained Synchronous Connections, Personally and Socially Maintained Semisynchronous Connections, and Dynamically Maintained Asynchronous Connections.
Personally Maintained Synchronous Connections this is the traditional network that includes the people and places you go to answer questions and solve problems. Now, you can enhance this PLN tool by using instant and text messaging, Twitter, chat, and teleconferencing.
Personally and Socially Maintained Semisynchronous Connections refers to Twitter, texting, personal Facebook profiles and Syndicaster. They are conversations, but not really conversations. Semisynchronous is the idea that collaboration does not have to happen in real time.
Dynamically Maintained Asynchronous Connections refers to the information coming to us mainly by the RSS aggregator. The first two PLNs described connect us with each other, but with this PLN it connects us with the content and information we find valuable and important. One of the most useful PLN tools is social bookmarking by Delicious. Once a person organizes their tags, that information becomes available to a whole community.
Creating and using your PLN is a learning experience. You are constantly reflecting upon the knowledge gained, the experience of using and being engrossed in others PLNs, participating in learning activities and reflecting upon those learning experiences and reintroducing those ideas and experiences back in the learning community. It is a discipline and a responsibility to use your PLN because you are involved and engrossed in other people PLNs.
Question #1: What is a potential weakness for PLNs? PLNs can become limited in their range of perspective. Since poeple are creating PLNs it is only natural to obtain and seek out information that agrees with our personal point of view. It is important to include all view points in order to have the whole argument and truth of the matter available to viewers.
Question #2: What does a RSS aggregator do? A RSS aggregator train relevant content to come to you so you don't have to go looking for it.
Warlick, David (2009, March/April). Grow your personal learning network. Learning and Leading with Technology, Retrieved 04/01/2009, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200904/
Personally Maintained Synchronous Connections this is the traditional network that includes the people and places you go to answer questions and solve problems. Now, you can enhance this PLN tool by using instant and text messaging, Twitter, chat, and teleconferencing.
Personally and Socially Maintained Semisynchronous Connections refers to Twitter, texting, personal Facebook profiles and Syndicaster. They are conversations, but not really conversations. Semisynchronous is the idea that collaboration does not have to happen in real time.
Dynamically Maintained Asynchronous Connections refers to the information coming to us mainly by the RSS aggregator. The first two PLNs described connect us with each other, but with this PLN it connects us with the content and information we find valuable and important. One of the most useful PLN tools is social bookmarking by Delicious. Once a person organizes their tags, that information becomes available to a whole community.
Creating and using your PLN is a learning experience. You are constantly reflecting upon the knowledge gained, the experience of using and being engrossed in others PLNs, participating in learning activities and reflecting upon those learning experiences and reintroducing those ideas and experiences back in the learning community. It is a discipline and a responsibility to use your PLN because you are involved and engrossed in other people PLNs.
Question #1: What is a potential weakness for PLNs? PLNs can become limited in their range of perspective. Since poeple are creating PLNs it is only natural to obtain and seek out information that agrees with our personal point of view. It is important to include all view points in order to have the whole argument and truth of the matter available to viewers.
Question #2: What does a RSS aggregator do? A RSS aggregator train relevant content to come to you so you don't have to go looking for it.
Warlick, David (2009, March/April). Grow your personal learning network. Learning and Leading with Technology, Retrieved 04/01/2009, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200904/
Journal 6: Mining for Gold
RSS (Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary) allows information to come to you. Internet users control what they receive and view by subscriptions. A program known as an aggregator collects new information posted on the internet and the user can access this information (all new information in their aggregator) from one page. As your interests change, so can your bookmarks and RSS feeds. There are numerous ways RSS can be used in the classroom; subscribe to student blogs, subscribe to social bookmarks, and feeding content to HTML pages.
Subscribe to student blogs by using a feed aggregator. Bloglines and Bloglines Notifyer enable one to track blog subscriptions. An icon pops up on the computer when students post new content. Most search engines have the ability to share content through RSS subscriptions.
Subscribe to social bookmarks like Delicious. Delicious allows you to keep all of your favorite Internet sites online and it supports multiple tags. By organizing your tags and creating a class tag, allows students to access all class related information on one site. Social bookmarking is a great collaborative tool.
Feeding content to HTML pages; you can find any feed online and create a JavaScript that you can place on a Web page or on your LMS. This script pulls the dynamic content into the course and you don’t need a code to access the information. You can build custom feeds using a tool called Feed2JS.
Question 1: What is RSS? RSS is two-fold; feeds and aggregators. Each feed is defined with channel tags, which contains specific information that defines individual items. Aggregators read these special tags, track each subscribed page, and notify you when new items are added.
Question #2: What is LMS? Learning Management System (i.e. website)
Bigenho, Chris (2009, March/April). Mining for Gold. Learning and Leading with Technology, Retrieved 04/01/2009, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200904/
Subscribe to student blogs by using a feed aggregator. Bloglines and Bloglines Notifyer enable one to track blog subscriptions. An icon pops up on the computer when students post new content. Most search engines have the ability to share content through RSS subscriptions.
Subscribe to social bookmarks like Delicious. Delicious allows you to keep all of your favorite Internet sites online and it supports multiple tags. By organizing your tags and creating a class tag, allows students to access all class related information on one site. Social bookmarking is a great collaborative tool.
Feeding content to HTML pages; you can find any feed online and create a JavaScript that you can place on a Web page or on your LMS. This script pulls the dynamic content into the course and you don’t need a code to access the information. You can build custom feeds using a tool called Feed2JS.
Question 1: What is RSS? RSS is two-fold; feeds and aggregators. Each feed is defined with channel tags, which contains specific information that defines individual items. Aggregators read these special tags, track each subscribed page, and notify you when new items are added.
Question #2: What is LMS? Learning Management System (i.e. website)
Bigenho, Chris (2009, March/April). Mining for Gold. Learning and Leading with Technology, Retrieved 04/01/2009, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200904/
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Journal 8: Virtual Worlds
Technology Tool: Virtual Worlds
What is a Virtual World? According to ask.com, a Virtual World is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online interface. Virtual worlds are also called "digital worlds," "simulated worlds" and "MMOG's." There are many different types of virtual worlds, however there are six features all of them have in common:
1. Shared Space: the world allows many users to participate at once.
2. Graphical User Interface: the world depicts space visually, ranging in style from 2D "cartoon" imagery to more immersive 3D environments.
3. Immediacy: interaction takes place in real time.
4. Interactivity: the world allows users to alter, develop, build, or submit customized content.
5. Persistence: the world's existence continues regardless of whether individual users are logged in.
6. Socialization/Community: the world allows and encourages the formation of in-world social groups like teams, guilds, clubs, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods, etc.
Inclusion of Students with Special Needs in Online Learning Environments: Students with special needs can check the learning community's accessibility guidelines to see if their technology tools will work and are compatible with that system. Students with visual impairments can use a screen reader to access virtual worlds and online learning communities. Students with hearing impairments would need a text equivalent to any audio. This discussion listed several helpful websites as resources for information on web accessibility.
Educational Uses of Second Life: In this discussion thread people asked many questions, but got few answers on how to use Second Life in the classroom and with students. The general consensus about using Second Life with students was that it was difficult to use due to age restrictions. A teacher posted on the discussion thread that he did use different virtual environments with his students, Opensim and Edusim.
What is a Virtual World? According to ask.com, a Virtual World is an interactive simulated environment accessed by multiple users through an online interface. Virtual worlds are also called "digital worlds," "simulated worlds" and "MMOG's." There are many different types of virtual worlds, however there are six features all of them have in common:
1. Shared Space: the world allows many users to participate at once.
2. Graphical User Interface: the world depicts space visually, ranging in style from 2D "cartoon" imagery to more immersive 3D environments.
3. Immediacy: interaction takes place in real time.
4. Interactivity: the world allows users to alter, develop, build, or submit customized content.
5. Persistence: the world's existence continues regardless of whether individual users are logged in.
6. Socialization/Community: the world allows and encourages the formation of in-world social groups like teams, guilds, clubs, cliques, housemates, neighborhoods, etc.
Inclusion of Students with Special Needs in Online Learning Environments: Students with special needs can check the learning community's accessibility guidelines to see if their technology tools will work and are compatible with that system. Students with visual impairments can use a screen reader to access virtual worlds and online learning communities. Students with hearing impairments would need a text equivalent to any audio. This discussion listed several helpful websites as resources for information on web accessibility.
Educational Uses of Second Life: In this discussion thread people asked many questions, but got few answers on how to use Second Life in the classroom and with students. The general consensus about using Second Life with students was that it was difficult to use due to age restrictions. A teacher posted on the discussion thread that he did use different virtual environments with his students, Opensim and Edusim.
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