The article Using the ADDIE Model
to Design Second Life Activities for Online Learners By
Shiang-Kwei Wang and Hui-Yin Hsu helped me to see Second Life as an educational
tool. This helped me to recognize how
Second Life would benefit online college courses, especially. There is a
significant lack in social presence when taking an online course. I feel it would be great to be able to
address the face to face interaction situation with the use of Second
Life. I agree with the article in that
this form of learning would be more engaging and motivating than traditional
Blackboard learning. This article addresses
that there is a belief students learn better when they can “explore and
construct their own meaning” in a learning environment. I feel this is a very true aspect to
learning. If Second Life was used with
online courses it would aide in establishing a social environment where students
are interacting, collaborating, and actively discussing content through the use
of their avatar. The actual use of
technology and navigating through the site is a wonderful learning process in
itself. Students like us who are
learning so many new technological resources can benefit greatly through the
use of Second Life. I see many positive
aspects to using Second Life with college courses, but I do feel it would be
difficult to use with grade level students.
For example, it would present privacy issues with all learning
levels. Second Life is not a private
environment so interaction with others outside of the class would present a
problem. Overall, this article was
helpful in seeing the uses of Second Life as an educational tool. I think with time the use of this sort of
tool will be considerably more popular than it is presently.
I found the article Theories and Practices of Multimodal
Education: The Instructional Dynamics of Picture Books and Primary Classrooms by
Dawnene D. Hassett and Jen Scott Curwood to be very informative and somewhat of
an eye opening experience. The article
spoke of how language arts instruction must be remodeled to fit today’s
society. Society has changed so much
through the use of technology and this has created a young society who needs
information to be delivered to them in the way they learn and interact with the
world. Traditional instruction just
isn’t reaching our students the way technology integrated instruction
does. The article addresses how text is
now delivered in so many different ways.
Colors, graphics, and a variety or other aspects have now been incorporated
into technology based reading materials.
I have found that students respond to this greatly. My special education students love the
different aspects these sorts of reading sites and tools offer. They are more engaged and motivated to read
when I present them with this versus a traditional book. These resources and
tools allow for a more multisensory approach.
Its helps differentiate instruction and reach many different learning
styles all at once. Overall, I feel that we need to continue to
change instruction as society continues to change. Integrating technology in
ELA instruction makes a large difference with my students. I feel it will help
all students achieve success better. Sunday, March 11, 2012
Second Life
This is a shot of my avatar in what I think was a dace club of some sort. I discussed this site with a few different teachers. None of the teachers were familiar with it. I wasn't surprised because I was very unfamiliar with it, as well. It was an interesting site that had a lot to offer. I am not really an online socializer and nor were these teachers, therefore will all agreed there was some nervousness attached to using something of this sort for educational purposes. It could definitely be used to set up a virtual classroom or community that is private. I feel the reason that this presents some anxiety to teachers is that these are real people that have the ability to communicate with our students. If a private room was set up and our students only accessed that area it could be a great learning tool. A few different classes could join and an assignment could be created that required students to work with other avatars form different classrooms. This would definitely cover New Literacies and collaboration amongst students. It may also provide students who are shy or lack social skills to be more comfortable in speaking with others and sharing ideas. This virtual classroom could also be used outside of the school. Students could ask each other questions or discusses homework assignments and projects.
UDL Book Builder
I came
up with this idea because I felt that story structure and elements is such an important
concept for students to understand. I
love the book 7 x 9 = Trouble and
have used it in my classroom before.
When the ELA teacher I am working with shared she was reading this with some
of her students, I was thrilled. She had
already taught the story elements to the student I worked with, Joe. Joe had a
great understanding of the elements. He
was thrilled to spend a few lunches with me to complete a writing assignment I
asked of him. Joe liked the idea that his
work would be published into a book. I especially
liked the creation of the book I have created because it included reading,
writing, and some math skills. Although
the teacher did all the instruction with the student, I tied in the writing
aspect. The great thing was is that he
came up with the thought that it included reading, writing and math in his
writing sample. I thought this was amazing
that he made this connection. His
teacher thought UDL Book Builder was a great way to publish students writing. Her major concern was will the students be
able to navigate through the site independently. She did feel this tool would be so useful in
higher grade levels and I agree. I think
that higher grade level teachers could have their students use this without a
problem. In speaking with a few ELA
teachers we all felt this would be a great tool for us to use in a variety of
ways. Some of these ideas included:
having students write actual stories, practicing using context clues or vocabulary
(using the coaches) by creating books for the students, and writing book
reports. I feel that the book I created could be used in a few different
ways. A teacher could use this book as
an example so that students could create their own book on story elements or
any other content. This book could also
be used to teach or review story elements with a class. Furthermore, the book could be used to review
the book 7 x 9= Trouble. This was a
really great website and I plan on using this and sharing it a lot in the
future.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
More Uses for Edmodo
·
Students can record their findings throughout a
project. For example, if they are
studying particular plants the students can post their findings and comment on
each others.
·
Brighter students could be selected as tutors
and provide help to others through the use of Edmodo.
·
It could be used to just create social relationships. Although this would have to be monitored
closely. Perhaps have students share
something they liked that another student did that day.
·
Students could give others feedback on
presentations given in class that day.
·
Students can post a question and others can respond
to it. The data can then be graphed and
used in a math presentation.
Gamestar and My Philosophy on Gaming
I enjoy
using games in my classroom and have for some time now. I was very interested in Gamestar Mechanic and Quest to Learn because
it was a different kind of educational gaming than I am familiar with. I use games that align with the content. For example, games that teach multiplication facts
or verbs. I usually use these types of
games as a guided practice or anticipatory set.
I can introduce a lesson, review pre-requites for the lesson, or have students
complete the games to help gain mastery.
Game Mechanics and Quest to Learn are a very different approach to
gaming than I have had in mind.
Both sites are geared towards creating
games to enhance skills. The skills focused on are system thinking, problem solving, creativity, and collaboration. These are all skills that are more challenging
to teach. I also feel these are often
the skills that require teachers to do very nontraditional teaching in order to address. Often students need to think outside the box or be placed in projects to learn these skills. I am a firm believer in teaching problem
solving and collaborating. I believe
these are essential skills that are often not taught and developed well enough
in our students. There are a few major
thoughts that cross my mind when approaching the use of gaming in this matter in
my classroom.
My initial thought was where the
time is and how teachers are incorporating this into their classrooms. There is so much content to teach these students
that it would be difficult to add this to the list of things we need to
teach. Then I started to see the
essential skills this would develop in the classroom and how engaged and motivated
students will be in this sort of lesson.
It seems that the teachers who are using this have been successful and
are designing useful lessons. I feel
that these types of lessons would be challenging to initially establish in the
classroom but overall will be worth it.
If students were able to learn problem solving, critical
thinking, and collaboration skills while having fun and consistently being engaged
why we wouldn’t incorporate this in our classrooms? I feel these types of lessons would be a
great way to motivate students while teaching essential skills. It would be great to use this as a reward
lesson. If the students cover all
required material then they are able to create their games. I am excited and curious to see how my
students will respond to this.
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