Week 14- Using Games for Teaching & Learning

This week's lesson was very interesting. In class we talked about the functions of games in the classroom. When I played games in school, like Oregon Trail, I did not think I was playing an "educational" game. Today, I see the skills it provided; historical knowledge, planning, and critical thinking. A new 3-D virtual world known as Second Life, offers many educational promises. Here you can hold conferences, lectures, and problems for students to solve. It is just another way that games enhance learning.

Games are definitely an asset in the classroom. I hope to offer students a variety of different educational games, rather than lecturing all day. I am also interested in setting up a classroom in Second Life. The kids would enjoy creating their own avatar and learning the material in a digital world. Listening to educationl conferences that I would not be able to attend in person would also be a benefit.

I obtained the following video from YouTube. It looks at the educational uses of Second Life. The video is especially helpful for those just starting out on Second Life. It shows teachers how to use the functions of the game to fit into their lesson plans. In depth descriptions are also given on how to operate the many applications on Second Life.

Week 13- Distance Education & Virtual Schooling

This week in class we discussed distance education and virtual schooling. Virtual schooling has been growing in popularity, compared to traditional schooling. Institutions like Florida Virtual School provide students with an excellence education via the computer and teacher communication. Opponents of distance education criticize that the students are learning strictly from a computer and not having any social interaction. On the contrary, most distance ed students have better communication and a relationship with their teachers, and have higher FCAT scores.

It is important to recognize virtual schooling in the education field. As a future educator, I must be able to adapt my teaching style to those students who have taken distance ed courses to better meet their needs. In addition, I might be a distance ed teacher in the future, so it is crucial that I know how to teach in that environment and stay in touch with the students on a daily basis.

Below is a video I located from YouTube. It deals with distance education at the elementary school level. The video also stresses the importance of accommodating special needs students who participate in virtual schooling. Many times the needs of these students go unnoticed, so it the job of the online teacher to make sure that they are comprehending the material.

Week 12- Creating a Professional Web Presence

This week was a lot of fun learning to create our own websites. The class watched a tutorial on how to create a website using Google Sites. The importance of having a personal website was discussed. It allows future employers to view your resume and get to know a little more about you. At the end of class we were able to begin our websites, and I was surprised at how easy Google Sites made it. I always thought a professional had to create a website for someone, but now I realize anyone can do it!

Having a web presence in education is important. It can be a valuable resource when job hunting. When I become a teacher, I would love to create a class website. There I could post links and videos, as well as homework reminders. I think the parents would enjoy a place where they could keep up to date with what is going on in the classroom.

Below is a video I located on YouTube. It deals with helping teachers create their own websites for the classroom. Rather than using Google Sites, it demonstrates using Wikispaces.It goes over different formats for creating an educational website. The video also provides information on embedding different applications into the website.

Week 11- Open Source Software

This week in class we learned about open source software. This software is unlike others, because it does not have a copyright. Instead, people can go in and make improvements and collaborate with others to make the program better. While copyright software can cost a lot of money, open source software is free to users. We looked at Gimp, which is an alternative to Photoshop. It has all the same functions as Photoshop, but zero the costs. I enjoyed working with Photoshop, but was not willing to pay hundreds of dollars on the software, so this is a great alternative.

Open source software is very useful as an education major. When I become a teacher, I will want to use programs such as Photoshop to enhance lessons. Thanks to open source software, I could create these presentations minus the extra costs. As a teacher I would also like to create podcasts for my students to listen to at home. I could do this using programs like Audacity.

Below is a video I located from YouTube. It deals with open source software for elementary teachers. The video provides a list of websites that have free software that relate to education. Many of the sites offer programs that enhance learning for the children, as well as tools for teachers, such as gradebooks.It also gives tips on how to locate more programs and how to download them.

Concept Map

Hey everyone!
Here is my example of a concept-map. I had a lot of fun creating it using webspiration. I can definitely see myself making concept maps in the education field because they are organized and easy to understand.

Week 9- Social Tools & Cloud Computing

This week in class we learned about cloud computing. Rather than having to constantly e-mail attatchments back and forth, cloud computing allows you to use server-based applications. We looked at Google Docs, which is a very useful tool. Docs allows everyone to collaborate and view a project or document, without the hassle of emailing. Social bookmarking applications, such as Delicious, takes the hassle away of constantly adding websites to your favorites list. Delicious makes bookmarking organized and easy to search for with tags.

As a future educator, I could definitely see myself using social tools and cloud computing. If I wanted my students to work on a project, I would use Google Docs to view their progress and add comments. Social bookmarking would also be useful in the education field. Teachers could show other teachers helpful websites that go hand-in-hand with their lesson plan using Delicious.

Below is a video I found on YouTube that deal with social bookmarking in education. It introduces Edtags, which is a website where people can share resources relevant to the field of education. It is a collaboration of students and teachers, who share documents and websites that could be useful in the classroom. It is similar to Delicious, but contains only education related resources.

Sound File

Sound File.wma - Megan Oftedal

Hey everyone! Above is my sound file that I recorded using Windows Sound Recorder. It's just me talking for a couple of seconds. I think the use of sound files would be very helpful in the education field, especially when creating presentations for students. Teachers must make lessons fun and interactive for children, and adding sounds will keep the kids' attention. I'm glad I have the knowledge to put sound files in presentations because it will help me be a more effective teacher when I graduate.

Week 8- The Sound of...Podcasting

This week in EME2040, we learned about podcasting. Podcasting has a variety of different uses, such as using it in presentations for schools, communicating with others, and creating different sounds. When ever I heard the term "podcast," I assumed it was very hard to create sounds and presentations, and then send them to others. I learned that it is relatively easy, and there are a number of programs that will aide in the creation of podcasts. We worked on Garage Band in class to create different sound files, along with Audacity. Furthermore, we explored different websites, such as the Freesound Project, which is part of the Creative Commons movement that offers copyright free sounds.

Podcasting offers a variety of benefits to education majors. I have had experience with it in the classroom in the past. My history teacher in high school used to broadcast podcasts to prepare the class for the AP test and I found it very helpful. Using sound files in the classroom can promote better study habits, because students can listen to letures at their own convenience and replay parts of the lecture. Teachers can also add different content to their podcasts to aide in learning, including historical speeches and even videos using Vodcast. Podcasts also encourage students to read more through audio books, thus helping in the area of reading comprhension.

I obtained the following video from YouTube. I chose this video because it explains the benefits of podcasting in education. It describes how the classroom has evolved from simply downloading sounds and playing them to the class, to creating entire lectures and podcasting them. It also shows how to subscribe to an author's podcast through iTunes, and the tools needed to create your own podcast, such as a microphone and correct software.

Week 7- Digital Storytelling

I really enjoyed this week's lesson! In class, we learned all about digital storytelling and the different programs used to create them. It is amazing how a mass of photos can be compiled using tools such as iMovie and Powerpoint and adding music and other effects to create a wonderful story. Besides iMovie and Powerpoint, we looked at Animoto, which is similar to iMovie, and GoAnimate, a fun site that allows you to create cartoon video clips. For homework we were assigned to create our own digital storytelling example using one of the programs. I chose to use Powerpoint to create a story about Murphy. It was fun to look at my classmates stories and comment on them.

I feel like digital storytelling would make a huge impact in the classroom. I don't think many educators realize that they can use computer programs to make their lesson plans come alive. I'm glad I have this knowledge, so when I become a teacher in the future, I can create exciting presentations for my students to better comprehend the material. Using Google Earth for literature, as past teachers have done, is something I would also like to experiment with in the future because it makes stories come alive when you can show students landmarks that were mentioned in the book. No longer do teachers have to lecture for hours in front of a podium, but create an entertaining and interactive story to covey their message to the class.

The following video was obtained from YouTube. I found this video very useful for myself, because it talks about digital storytelling in the education setting. It goes into greater detail about what it is and how it is beneficial to use it in the classroom. The video also discusses more programs that can be used to create digital stories that were not mentioned in class. The benefits of digital storytelling in education were mentioned, and include accomodating different learning styles, captivate attention, encourage creativity, promote higher learning thinking skills, and address many 21st century skills.

Week 5: Media & Information Literacy

This week was very interesting. We looked at famous pictures in history that had been altered using Photoshop, which was pretty entertaining! The concept of visual literacy was introduced, which has allowed us to distinguish between different images (street signs, business logos, etc.) and carry out life activities. I never before realized how heavily I depended on these symbols, and how difficult it would be to function without them. Visual literacy and Photoshop go hand-in-hand, and we were able to work on a Photoshop tutorial to prepare us for our Visual Literacy Project. We were able to manipulate images and look at past examples of students' projects.

As an education major, I would definitely use the concept of visual literacy in the classroom. It is crucial as an educator to teach children to recognize and comprehend images. Students also become more interested in and familiar with events in history when they are presented with photographic evidence. Topics in the curriculum that might seem dull and uninteresting to students can suddenly come alive with visual literacy. Photoshop is also a useful tool in the education field because a teacher can make presentations more alluring to a class through the use of this program's devices.

The following video was obtained from YouTube. It is a very good video for present and future teachers who wish to effectively use visual literacy. The video also presents ideas on how to use visual literacy in different subject areas, such as history, math, and science. Many times images are on the same topic, but portray different meanings. It is the teacher's job to help students encode these different messages.

Creative Commons

Hey everyone! I found a really cool video on YouTube that helps explain Creative Commons licensing in better detail and why it is a better alternative to copyright. Enjoy!

Week 4- Copyright Law, Plagiarism, & Ethical Issues

This week in class we discussed copyright laws and other ethical issues that deal with using others works. There are many strict guidelines that most be followed when using a creator's work that I was unaware of. For example, under copyright law if you want to copy or change an author's work you must ask their permission before doing so. Violations for not following these strict guidelines can result in hefty fines. Not only does copyright cover books and written works, but also software, TV and digital works, and distance education. A better alternative to copyright that has emerged is the Creative Commons, which has allowed people to alter and share different works, as long as credit is given to the creator.

This information is extremely valuable to me and all future educators. There are many copyright restrictions that teachers must be aware of before giving information out to students. The Fair Use Act has made it possible for educators to use works without having to ask permission from the owner, although there are factors that determine the extent and nature of the usage. This is important information for me to know when I become a teacher, because I will know how to reproduce and share works with my students, while abiding by the law. Gaining this knowledge could have prevented me from unknowlingly breaking copyright laws as a teacher.

I discovered the following video on YouTube. It elaborates on copyright laws in the classroom, and how to effectively share an author's work. As an education major I found it especially useful because it goes over all the guidelines for reproducing works for students. Additionally it goes over the specifics of the Fair Use Act in the classroom.

Week 3- Web Technology

This week we learned more about Mac OSX and the features of a Mac. This was very insightful because owning a Dell, I never knew how to navigate a Mac or how useful some of the tools on it are. We also got started on our blogs (yea!) and learned how to link them to the class wiki. The concept of Web 2.0 was also introduced, which describes the changing trends in web design that allows users to work collaberativley and interactivley with eachothers works. It includes sites such as Facebook and Flickr because these are online communities in which members can share their information with others. I also researched different Web 2.0 applications, and found some fun ones including, PopSugar and Notecentric.

Web 2.0 would be very useful to an education major. There are many applications that would be helpful to students. Many feature online books and tools that help children read. This would make learning more fun and interactive for students. Blogger would be useful in the classroom because it could help students out of school and link them to their classmates and teachers. It would be helpful while working on group projects too, because it would allow easy exchange of ideas.

The following video was obtained from YouTube. I chose this video because it explains why Web 2.0 is important in education. It gives a brief explanation of what it is and the different uses that pertain to education. In addition, it gives interviews with students and teachers that describe the benefits of this tool. I think this video is very useful to education majors becuase it shows technology can benefit and enhance student learning.