Journal #4

Liz Kolb’s article, “From Toy to Tool” examined how cellphones can be put to use in the classroom instead of being a distraction. Audioblogging has emerged and allows users to use a phone and record a conversation to be posted on a blog site, such as Blogger.com. Kolb recommended the website Gabcast.com for teachers interested in having students audioblog in their class. Audioblogging can be a usefull tool for students to conduct an interview with someone over the phone and being able to share the conversation with their classmates. Of course there are privacy issues because free sites often do not offer much protection audioblogs posted through Gabcast.com can be heard by the public as well as blogs posted on Blogger.com can be seen by the public. Although I have never personally made an audioblog I have found them to be useful for communications, one of my best friends is in the Army in Iraq and he is able to create audioblogs for his family and friends to listen to online.

How could I incorporate audioblogs in my classroom?
I am not sure how I feel about audioblogs in the primary grade classroom. I do not think it would be wise for me have all the students bring cell phones to school one day, I think it could be a good out of class assignment that way parents could supervise and decide if they wanted their child to have an audioblog. For example I would have students call a grandparent and interview them as part of a lesson on family history.

What about students who do not have a cell phone?
I would be shocked if all the students in primary grades had cell phones to begin with, also I think at such a young age bringing the cell phone to school would be a bigger distraction. I think audioblogging is more appropriate for middle school or high school grade level.

Journal #3

Glen Bull’s article, “Video in the Age of Participation” discussed how users are now allowed to upload video through websites, like the extremely popular site YouTube. You can find video clips of pretty much anything on YouTube including clips from movies or video from somebody’s wedding. The article also examined how the use of videos available on the internet are benefiting teachers in the classroom. The Discovery Education unitedstreaming website was pointed out as a great site with over 40,000 video clips that can be incorporated into lesson plans. Sites like this make videos easily accessible to teachers and do not require that the teachers classroom be equipped with a VCR or DVD player. The Discovery Educators Network (DEN) has also created a program which allows teachers to “remix” videos, essentially taking clips from various videos and creating their own video relevant to the lesson they are teaching.

How could I as a teacher use a program like the one offered through Discovery Educators Network to enhance my classroom?
As a teacher I would love to have access to a program that allowed me to create a video designed for my lesson plan. I think bringing video into the classroom to assist with teaching is very beneficial. Video would allow me to bring in firsthand information into the classroom, for example if I were teaching students about hurricanes I could show them news footage of Hurricane Katrina that way students can connect between the textbooks description of a hurricane and the reality of a hurricane.

How could I make these videos accessible to my students outside of class?
I would like to create a website for my students of videos I remixed to correspond to the material I am teaching in class since there are a great deal of video resources to help students learn. If a student is struggling with a topic or interested they would be able to watch additional videos I did not have an opportunity to show in class at home.

Journal #2

The article by Justin Hardman and David Carpenter, “Breathing Fire into Web 2.0” discussed how schools like the Hong Kong International School are making strides to incorporate the technology their students are familiar into the classroom. At the Hong Kong International School a program called myDragonNet was created that takes advantages of the capabilities of Web 2.0. It not only serves as an organizational tool for classroom management for teachers it is also an active means of communication between the students, teachers, and parents outside of the classroom. MyDragonNet in my opinion seemed to be incorporate many of the aspects of WebCt along with TaskStream because it allows students to keep an online portfolio of their work and also addresses the standards and benchmarks they are incorporating.

Can a program like myDragonNet be incorporated into the elementary school classroom?
I think at the elementary school level a program like myDragonNet would be more useful to the teacher as an organizational tool and means of communication with parents, because especially in the primary grades students cannot be held responsible for submitting assignments online and such but it would be nice if all of the parents had an account and the teacher could use it as a form of communication with parents instead of sending home flyers.

What are possible disadvantages of a program like myDragonNet?
There are two major disadvantages to myDragonNet, one not all students have equal access to a computer. Not only may some students not have access to a computer at home but at many school students are still limited to their access of computers. Another disadvantage was if teachers begin to rely too much on technology it might take away from their responsibility as a teacher to teach their students.

Journal #1

Eleanor Yang Su's article "Professors adjust their methods to reach technology-savvy generation" in the Union Tribune reflected on college students use of technology during class lectures and how professor are adapting their teaching strategy to engage students who are easily distracted by cell phones and laptop computers. It is increasingly difficult to hold students attention when the multitasking between surfing the Internet and text messaging all the while listening to a lecture. College professors are reacting to their students use of technology by incorporating it into college courses. They are implementing the use of remote answering devices, especially in large classroom settings, which allow students to electronically submit answers to in class questions, polls, or quizzes. Also colleges use programs like WebCT and Blackboard to allow students to access course discussion boards.

“Colleges due to technology are allowed to offer online courses. What are the benefits and drawbacks of online courses?”
I am currently enrolled in my first online course and I have mixed feelings about taking classes online. It is beneficial in the sense that I am able to complete a college course from my home without having to spend time sitting in a classroom. However I feel disconnected from this course because I never spend time interacting with a teacher and other students. The class is almost put on the backburner because the classes I have to physically attend are on my mind. I am also not sure online classes are beneficial to different learning styles because you put responsibility upon yourself for teaching and learning the material.

“College students are technologically savvy, how can you introduce and incorporate technology into the elementary level classroom?”
The generation of students I will be teaching I am sure will be more technology savvy than I was up until I entered college. I am interested in teaching the primary grades so I would like to introduce my students to the various ways technology is used in their everyday life so they are more familiar with it. There are many educational programs that disguise themselves as games but the students are still learning.