Gaming and Simulations

I really liked the "Active and Critical Learning Principle" because it engages the students in learning in a more active way.  It also allows for critical thinking which is important later in life when trying to solve problems that arise.  I also liked the "Practice Priciple" because learning through a game is always fun.  Students will invariably ask to play the game because its so much fun, little do they know they've been tricked into learning.  Practice and repition is crucial in learning math, so this is a great way to get students to practice.  The "Discovery Principle" is another important principle in learning.  Being able to take the current knowledge and getting out of the norm and really explore a subject it makes the material more real to them, and possibly more engaging and interesting. 

Simulations are a great idea for a teacher with a smaller budget, and I could definitely support the idea.  I'm not really sure how I would incoporate this into a physical education class, but I can see the benefit in a science class.  It would allow students to disect frogs without the smell, or with out having to clean up afterward, or they could create new chemical compounds in a virtual simulation without the students accidently blowing up the school.  It allows for more creative and interesting combinations with the fear of loss or messing up.

Engaged students are learning students.  It's very difficult to keep the students engaged when using the older forms of teaching.  Kids today have information flying at them at a million miles a minute, so droning on and on will create a glazed over look from your students.  Being active and practically engaged in learning or doing and creating is a great way to keep all of your students engaged in the material and thus promotes learning. 

 

Jonassen, D., Howland, J., Marra, R., & Crismond, D.,(2008). Meaningful Learning With

Technology (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall

Rubrics, Clicker Assessments, Inspiration/Kidspiration

Technology based rubrics, unless I'm using the sites wrong, are basically rubrics that others made up and posted on a website.  It would appear that one of the websites is full, and is no longer accepting new rubrics.  If a teacher gets help on their lesson plan from websites like discovery kids, or united streaming, most of the lesson plans that are given on those websites along with the videos have rubrics that come along with them.  I wasn't sure I liked any of the website's posted rubrics on physical education, though it did give qualatative and quantatative rubrics for assignments or skill sets.  Maybe, these could be useful in determining on which set of skills the student/students need to most help on.  I'm not sure I really like it for grading in physical education as I personally see effort as a bigger part of grading than actual ability.  Some kids are more physically gifted than others, but improvement and effort, I think, would be a bigger portion for my classes.

The clicker assessment tools are absolutely amazing.  I definitely see the benefit in this for a classroom.  It's like a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" right there in your classroom.  The benefit of this is everyone enjoys playing games, and if you can make a game out of this, then students are more engaged.  The more engaged your students are, the more they are learning.  I don't think i can use this in physical education however, unless really prodded to come up with a great idea.  However, off the top of my head I can think of nothing.

The inspiration/kidspiration software looks completely amazing as well.  This could be a great tool in just about every academic subject out there.  It's basically a brainstorming tool, which is extremely helpful for people like me who have trouble staying organized.  Keeping all of the thoughts that run through my head in an organized fashion is a very daunting task for anyone.  With the software it looks like brainstorming made easy.  However, once again, i don't see spending the money on this software for a physical education class.  If the school decided to purchase the software and mandated that it be used by every subject, once again, I'm sure I could come up with something, but I would only use it for maybe one week out of an entire year.  I just would see it as a misappropriation of funds. 

http://www.rubrician.com/physical.htm

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/assess.html

http://www.qwizdom.com/?gclid=CNLygeH3mpcCFQZqswodWV6D-g

http://www.inspiration.com/

Digital Storytelling

Digital storytelling is telling a story using the technology available at this current juncture in time.  It allows students to create a movie, starting out with a storyboard, and then moving on into the movie making process using a desktop computer and movie making software, and finally finishing up with a final edited product.  Students can work in various roles, such as editor, actor, director, key grip, etc... I think it could make a very interesting how to video or some such to use in a physical education classroom.  I think it would be possible to utilize everyone in the classroom to make a workout video, or some other fun type of movie incorporating sports and physical activity. 

Mathematics is one of the more abstract subject-matter domains, visualizing the concepts is useful in helping students make math real.  Images that break down the equations in order to help students understand the why when it comes to math is key.  Graphic calculators can be useful when plotting out equations, it furthers the understanding of the relationship of the x and y axis, and shows the plot of each equation entered into the calculator. However, I would think there are websites to help further understand the use in real life application.  Being the questioner that I am, I have trouble with someone just telling me "that's the way it is."  or "because I said so" I want to know why and if I the reasons make sense to me.  Why is it important to know how to plot an equation on a graph. 

Technology is rapidly improving and there are many things you can learn how to do simply by looking it up on youtube.  However, I think it is impossible to learn to do something from tv alone.  Whether or not you are learning how to tie a tie, or cook a meal, it is impossible to watch something on tv and then be able to perform the feat impeccably.  Just like anything it takes a lot of trial and error.  Learning from your mistakes and getting better.  Learning from your mistakes means not learning from tv alone.  Plus, you can't ask the tv show host a question if you get stumped.  Then what do you do?  I do believe that it is beneficial in learning and the access of information is very simplistic.  Recently I purchased a game called GO, and the directions were incredibly difficult to figure out, so I hopped on youtube and followed along with the instruction manual and finally figured out how to play... I think I got it figured out. 

Jonassen, D. (2008). Meaningful learning with technology (pp. 192). Upper Saddle, New Jersey: Pearson.

Podcasting

What did you learn about podcasting?  How can it be used in the classroom?

Well, I knew a lot about podcasting since I listen to a lot of sports radio.  Typically, I'm on the road a lot and in my car, so I'm able to listen a lot.  However, sometimes, I'm in and out of the car running errands, or meeting with clients so I miss stuff.  It always happens when the radio announcers are about to interview someone that I'm actually interested in hearing what they have to say.  The radio station puts all interviews in podcast so that I can download them to my phone and listen when I would like to.  I can see how this would be beneficial in the classroom seeing as how more and more kids are on the go.  Going to this practice or brother and sister's practice, and not really having enough time for the studies.  With a podcast of a lecture or some other informative session via podcast, they can do all that they have to do, and still get in their study time.  Or in my case with Physical Education, maybe they can download a series of Olympian jumps, or a workout routine to use at home without having to be in front of a tv


How is podcasting different/similar to other Web 2.0 applications we discussed so far?

Podcasting is not as interactive as say a Wiki.  Podcasting is more of a one way communicative application for students to gain information without having to either sit in front of a computer or tv or be near a radio.  It's more personalized and can be taken with them wherever they would like to go.

Reflection:  Do you own an iPod or MP3 player?  How do you use it?  Would you use it in your classroom and how?  What do you think about advantages/disadvantages of online communication tools?

I do not own an iPod since most of my listening is in my car.  I have satellite radio and regular radio, and I get Pandora on my phone that I can plug into my car.  I guess my phone can substitute for an MP3 player or iPod, but I don't download music.  I once had a computer with probably 6 straight days worth of music on it that I either copied from my collection, or downloaded.  My computer crashed and most of the music couldn't be recovered.  I was so devastated, it took years to get that compilation together and in a blink it was gone.  I haven't downloaded anything since.  I do see the benefit of using a podcasting in the classroom as a teaching tool, like I said, I could cast workout routines that students could take with them, or maybe videos of certain athletes performing a particular task that students could practice to emulate.  The communication tools available these days are astounding when one steps back to take a look at it.  The only thing that worries me about all of it, is less human interaction.  I'm a people person, and like being around people.  Viewing reactions, reading body language.  There are so many ways to communicate with people without ever shaking a hand it kind of frightens me.  However, I either have to cope or I lose out on what's happening in the world.

Whitsitt Rhys Shelton

Wikis, Socialbookmarking, and voicethread

So, I recently did my journal critique about using wikis for a physical education project.  Basically the teacher set the students into groups and charged them with creating a game.  He then set them up all up with wikis so that they could all collaborate on the creation of the game.  At the same time, the teacher could monitor progress as well as comment on things to help the students along.  I thought this was the most brilliant thing I had ever heard of.  Not only is it incorporating technology into physical education, which I originally thought would be impossible, it gets students to think about physical education more than just once or twice a week.  If given the chance I would like to be able to do something like this with at least one class a semester. 

In regards to social bookmarking, I thought this was a really great idea too.  Years ago, I discovered this online playlist.  For me, this was fantastic since it seemed like I was sitting at a new computer every day.  With my online playlist, I could listen to my music without having to sit at the same computer, or plug my mp3 player into some portal, or having to have earphones on.  I have small ears so earphones just don't work for me.  Okay, back on topic, social bookmarking seems to be the same concept.  Not only can I sit at any computer on any network and get to my bookmarks, I can also view other's bookmarks and see if they have found anything useful or interesting.  My favorites bar across the top of my computer is constantly used, honestly I don't know if I could even write in the url anymore if I needed to.  I'm very reliant on my favorites, so the social bookmarks seems to be a pretty great idea.    I couldn't really get any of the voicethread links to work, I didn't really understand it.  It does seem to be pretty neat, but not something I would ever put into application. 

I had the pleasure of exploring Tapped In, this is an awesome website! Having great teachers is the key to having highly educated students.  The whole idea of having teachers collaborate worldwide is rather intoxicating.  I will most definitely be interested in using this type of learning community. 

Copyright and Fair Use

         Copy right laws are vitally important in education today.  With countless numbers of videos, papers, music, and other forms of media readily available over the internet, the rules and regulations become more important today than they were before the information age.  With the implementation of fair use it get a little confusing.  I would surmise that if one is in doubt, and unable to find a difinitive answer when looking at the laws, don't use it.  The safest way to assure oneself as a teacher is to create your own material.  When teaching students about copy rights and fair use, it is also important to inform them of the difference between plaigarism and copyright laws.  It can be very tempting for a young student who is an ESL student to cut and paste an entire paper and pass it off as his own.  This is completely different from the copyright laws which demand compensation for original works used by others. 

         Cyberbullying is a new phenomenon much created by the advent of social networks such as facebook or myspace.  Before the internet, kids were bullied on the playground and in the hallways or on the way home from school.  Every kid who was bullied knew that once they were home, they would be safe and live to fight another day.  However, with these new social networks, the bullying continues even in the safety as ones own home.  The difference between online safety and cyberbullying is online safety is the protection of those being bullied online, and safety from online predators.  Information on people is readily and easily accessable to the trained stalker.  Computer hacks can get any information about a person they want with virtual ease.  Even if you try to be safe and not post address, phone number, school address, predators can still assertain from pictures posted where your neighborhood is, what places you visit frequently and where you may go to school.  It's a scary world out there, and parents and educators both need to be careful what information is posted about their children online. 

This weeks assignment was very enlightening.  I was regretably informed of the fact that I know nothing about copyright laws.  Cyberbullying has been advertised lately with commercials run during popular sporting events and television shows, so I had base knowledge of that.  I thought, however that I was pretty well educated about what was legal and what wasn't regarding fair use, and copyright laws.  I scored a 72 on the quiz which was disappointing.  Everytime the quiz told me I was wrong I was surprised.  It will be beneficial to have the "cheat sheet" about what is okay, and what is illegal.  Overall, I think I'm still a little confused.

Newsome, C. (1997). A teacher's right to fair use and copyright. Manuscript submitted for publication, Educational Technology Leadership Program, The George Washington University, Washington, DC. Retrieved from http://home.earthlink.net/~cnew/research.htm#Teachers and Fair Use