Reflecting on Communication and Collaboration

I find it interesting to think about what I've read and reflect about how collaboration had transformed into online collaboration over the past few years. As an undergrad student, I can remember doing a lot of collaborative work. How things have changed in just a few short years! I love that I can now work collaboratively with my fellow students using applications like voicethead or even virtual meeting environments like Wimba. It's great that distance is no longer a barrier for other students as well.
From the AUM perspective, it's a great way to increase our revenue too!Distance students, from what I hear typically get charged the out of state fee, as well as additional tech fees. For a school that's currently suffering from a shrinking budget, distance courses could become our savior!

One of the things that concerns me most about online classes is the lack of communication between students. Many times I see NO communication outside of required assignments and while that communication isn't really required, I've always liked the ideas of bouncing concepts back and forth between people. Using some of the tools we've learned about, this suddenly seems a lot easier.
But I digress.
The article also mentions some tools that I wouldn't have thought of as collaborative. Tools such as Google Docs. I have used Google docs for at least 2 years now, but I never thought of it as a tool that I could use in the classroom.
I've also know about wiki's for many years now, but until recently I was stuck in the "reading the wiki" mode of thought. I hadn't ever thought about using a wiki as a collaborative tool, but clearly, from what I've learned in this class, wiki usage in k-12 education is really taking off!
It's an exciting time that we live in. I can't even imagine the tools that we'll be using in 4 or 5 years to communicate with our fellow students and teachers.

Group Thinking Tools

I have really enjoyed learning about the different tools and learning/thinking about how to implement them into classroom use. I particularly enjoyed the visual ranking tool, because it has so many applications in a classroom environment. I likes the way Mrs. Gray used social studies as a possible way of using the tools. My first thought would have been to use it in a science environment. It would never have occurred to use it as she did. (Finding the causes of WW1). I also liked it when she took on the student role and was able to demonstrate reasons what were NOT reasons for WW1. I think it's shows a creative outlet for students.
I also really enjoyed Ms. Wimberly's "seeing reason" implementation. Again, I would not have thought of using literature for a cause/effect relationship. The graphical organizing nature of this tool really lends itself to a literature study though, and it would really assist student's with comprehension of their read material. The student perspective was very interesting as it allowed the students a creative way to show relationships involved in their read literature.
The Seeing Evidence tool, I thought really lent itself to more of a science based project. I designed the project to use the GUI of the evidence based tool as a graphic organizer. This would allow the student's to clearly see the relationship between the described conditions and the growth of the mold. From a student perspective, I think that the tool is very easy to use and it allows the student to clearly see what works and what doesn't.
Overall, I'm impressed with Intel and the teaching tools they've come up with-not to mention, it's FREE! What a great service they're providing for teachers and for students!

Virtual Worlds and Second Life!

OK!, over there last week, I've played around with Second Life an awful lot, and I've learned how to teleport, rez items, get clothes, and generally made some really cool friends from out on Maxwell AFB. Second life is a fantastic tool- note that I said tool. I love using it and it's given me all kind of really great ideas about ways in which we could use it in educational environments, however, it's important that we not loose sight of the curriculum. This is the area that I KNOW I will struggle with over the next 50 years! The technology has to come second to the curriculum. When more time is spent teaching the tech, rather that the curriculum the technology should be supporting, the students lose.
Now, with that said, there are come really great things that could be done in Second Life. There was one island that really caught my attention. It was created by an educator, and for the life of me, I cannot remember what the name of the island was...but talk about being chock-full of resources for teachers. Also, some of the islands that we've seen on the voice threads. Talk about awesome opportunities for virtual field trips!
Now as far as Second Life being applicable... I don't think I would want my K-4 students wandering around in a Second life environment. I think it would be too difficult to maintain control with them. However, for middle, secondary and higher education, the sky is the limit! In the past 3 days, I've been places and have even taken "virtual" quizzes after I finished my visit! How cool is that! In any case, I feel that it's a great tool to assist in the educational process, as long as the students are on task and have a clear learning goal.

Constructivist Theory

So I read this article for my class...an article all about constructivist theory. It's really kind of fascinating to me for a few reasons. (Of course, being an AUM grad, I know all about the theory and how it applies to education) but then I thought about Bloom's Taxonomy and how constructivist theory works with that...
It's obvious that in a constructionist learning environment that students will be creating (constructing) their own knowledge, and that they'll be a more active participant in the learning process.
I suppose that it's kind of interesting, because it makes me think about the learning process. I've decided it's not just that we "know" something. A lot of times it's just as much about "HOW we know something" that makes all the difference. I'm not sure that makes a lot of sense to you, my loyal reader. In any case, it's definitely a concept worth reflecting on.

Speaking your mind through video

After watching the video for this week's class, I was really impressed with the one young lady who created the video about the sweatshops, and about how women working in the sweatshops are exploited. The way in which she was able to express herself was amazing and moving. Specifically, the line where she says,"They are Moms and Sisters, like you and me." That line visibly shows her sadness at the way women in sweatshops are treated and how she identifies with those women.
Additionally, using media like video allows students to reach a far wider audience, as it evidenced by the worldwide usage of the young woman's video. What better way to share your thoughts and feelings with a huge audience. Online services such as youtube allow the wide dissemination of video content as well, which further enables students to share their thought through video presentation.
Still, the most amazing thing about different students using video is how their personal feelings and thought are conveyed through the media. Another example is the video "My Barrio". The young man shows his sadness with his neighborhoods situation as he show bullet holes in a building near his house.
After watching the videos, I can see how I'd like for my future students to work on a video project.

TPACK

Interesting article about Teaching, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge...Many of the ideas that the author's shared are really great...In some cases there are ideas I'd never thought of.
Initially as I read about the different types of activities, I began to wonder about the possibility of technology overload. How much tech integration is too much? When I read the example unit section of the article, it became very clear that the authors are are looking for students to be highly motivated to learn, and for that learning to be student driven.
One of my major concerns about technology in education is addressed when the authors mention the term "technocentric". I worry that if I were to implement a movie maker type project in a social studies class, that I'd spend too much time teaching the technology, rather than the curriculum. As I have thought more about this, and how I would implement such a project, I've come to a conclusion. There needs to be more time given to tech. education. Maybe 30-45 minutes a week during the first 6 weeks of school, during which time, a teacher could familiarize his or her students with the software required for their various projects throughout the year.
After the first six weeks of technical familiarization are complete, the students could be turned loose to work on their projects. Just my thoughts on things...