In an earlier discussion, I chatted with one of my classmates about creating computer games designed to assist in teaching. In Eliane Alhadeff's blog, she discusses immersive education. Talking about Boston College's program that enables students to get the feeling of "being there" through open discussion forums and simulations. In her blog she shares how games allow us to learn in the real world and apply what we are learning (or test it) in a virtual world complete with avitar representations of the individual playing the game. This is a brand new blog (posted yesterday) I am curious to see what conversations stem from it.
http://elianealhadeff.blogspot.com/2008/01/when-serious-games-meet-immersive_26.html
Joyce Valenza gets a great conversation flowing with her blog "Virtual teaching grows effective". In her post, she introduce's New Zealand's ATS (Affective Tutoring System) which uses an avitar of a woman who conducts the tutoring. I would love to see something like this, here. In the meantime jump on the discussion by connecting with her blog at http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1590018159.html?nid=3714.
My favorite blog that I found sparked a great discussion about synchornous learning and the value of it. This videoconferencing community posted a blog that has already had 7 posts. There is a great discussion going about whether distance learning is successful and if it is the route that education is taking. See this for yourself at:
http://bcisdvcs.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/is-synchronous-distance-learning-worth-the-trouble/
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Web 2.0 and Blogging
Alexander, Bryan. "Web 2.0: A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning?." Educause Review March/April 2006 33-44. 26 Jan 2008 http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0621.pdf.
In the article titled "Web 2.0: A Web of Innovation for Teaching and Learning?", Alexander conceptualizes Web 2.0 as "social software". He talks about how we are a blogging society. He says that blogs should be looked at as "streaming conversations". They should not be looked upon as books or collections of facts but rather as mini-discussions that talk about the facts and often include opinions. Blogging is "microcontent" that is open. It opens up the lines of communication, which in education is necessary. Teachers need a source with which to keep parents informed, communicate with students, and sometimes help parents to communicate with the students; blogs give us that avenue for self-expression.
Alexander went beyond blogging to discuss many ways in which socialization has created the new Web. The article homes in on social bookmarking sources such as del.icio.uc. and networking resources such as Jot Spot Live (www.jotlive.com). Jot Spot Live is a software resource that allows multiple students to create word documents that they may share and combine, which is helpful in assigning collaborative reports.
I got specific in my exploration of the Web 2.0. I wanted to relate it to what I do in education. From Alexander's article I walked away with many new resources as well as ideas for integration the Internet into instruction. This article offers many resources that would be helpful to educators. Many of the sources cited in this article should be in a bookmarking page specific designed for teachers. Alexander points out that Web 2.0 is still very young and still growing. We do not know exactly where it will end up but what we can see already, as this article explains is that the new Internet will centered upon socialization. Especially after finding this article, I am excited to see where Web 2.0 takes us.
In the article titled "Web 2.0: A Web of Innovation for Teaching and Learning?", Alexander conceptualizes Web 2.0 as "social software". He talks about how we are a blogging society. He says that blogs should be looked at as "streaming conversations". They should not be looked upon as books or collections of facts but rather as mini-discussions that talk about the facts and often include opinions. Blogging is "microcontent" that is open. It opens up the lines of communication, which in education is necessary. Teachers need a source with which to keep parents informed, communicate with students, and sometimes help parents to communicate with the students; blogs give us that avenue for self-expression.
Alexander went beyond blogging to discuss many ways in which socialization has created the new Web. The article homes in on social bookmarking sources such as del.icio.uc. and networking resources such as Jot Spot Live (www.jotlive.com). Jot Spot Live is a software resource that allows multiple students to create word documents that they may share and combine, which is helpful in assigning collaborative reports.
I got specific in my exploration of the Web 2.0. I wanted to relate it to what I do in education. From Alexander's article I walked away with many new resources as well as ideas for integration the Internet into instruction. This article offers many resources that would be helpful to educators. Many of the sources cited in this article should be in a bookmarking page specific designed for teachers. Alexander points out that Web 2.0 is still very young and still growing. We do not know exactly where it will end up but what we can see already, as this article explains is that the new Internet will centered upon socialization. Especially after finding this article, I am excited to see where Web 2.0 takes us.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Getting Educated
What better way to make myself known in the world of educational technology then to introduce myself using the resources that will aide me in teaching. This will be my blog into the world of learning. More will be coming as I familiarize myself with everything blogging has to offer.
Videos of my teaching style can be seen at http://www.mydeo.com/videorequest.asp?XID=36099&CID=140006
Check out my personal website at http://www.ryanrecord.com/
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