Archive for the ‘EPSY590VE’ Category
A Final Blog for CTER…
Posted on: May 9, 2011
I know I’ve said it before, but this time I mean it, this is officially my LAST blog! I’m not the biggest fan of blogging, but rather than explaining it all over again, you can just refer back to what I thought was my last blog ever last semester!
Rather than get all into the emotional “I can’t believe it’s over” that seems to happen no matter how many times you graduate, or how many graduates you teach each year, I’ll get straight to the point. I’m not very good at goodbyes anyway!
Since I’m not a big fan of blogging, I did my last artifact via SlideRocket. I focused on the three major items I took from this course and how they would work for me. I wish I could embed it below, but WordPress doesn’t support it. Visit my slideshow here!
Next up, my curriculum project which was created via LiveBinders. The purpose of this project was to put my classroom material online so students and their parents can access it from anywhere in order to less the effects of absenteeism and forgetfulness of notes and assignments. Eventually, I plan on expanding my virtual shelf to have a semester binder for every class I teach, but for now I started with Algebra M since these are the students who can benefit the most from extra organizational help. Access the Semester 2 Algebra M binder here!
And, last but not least…
Congratulations 2011 CTER graduates!!
LiveBinders & My Curriculum Project
Posted on: April 7, 2011
I have seriously fallen in love with LiveBinders. It is such a great way to organize info AND allow others to have access to it without the worries of someone “borrowing” something and forgetting to return it. Or overstuffing a physical binder to the point that it no longer closes. Or having the pages get old, wrinkled, and ripped out.
Because of my intense love for this service, I am going to make it my curriculum project. The scope of my focus will be for my 2nd semester Algebra 1 Modified course. If successful, I plan to implement a binder and have a shelf containing all semesters of all the courses I teach. (I just stressed myself out thinking about conquering that….)
What the binder will have is a tab for every unit covered that semester. When the tab is clicked on, it will present the viewer with the schedule for that unit and some helpful tidbit (like a list of perfect squares for the square roots unit). Inside the tab will be subtabs that contain each days’ guided notes filled out, worksheets that we did (not filled out!), review activities, help sites, and other media that will be useful or helpful. That type of media depends on what the unit is being explored.
Ultimately, the idea behind this is to keep my kids more responsible for themselves (partly because I will lose what remains of my sanity if I hear “Can I have another copy of…..” one more time), keep parents up-to-date and more responsible for their child’s learning (again, partly to take away the “But my child said…” excuses), and to provide kids with another outlet for help & extra practice outside of the classroom. Since my school deals with heavy absenteeism, the binder will be pushed as a way to keep kids on top of what happened on their days out. With this, I plan on keeping them connected while taking away their excuses.
The one thing I struggled with deciding was whether I should include the filled out notes or just the templates I hand out in class. I was afraid that once students realized they were online, that they would no longer take them and then simply print them out when it was time to turn them in. However, I also wanted students who were absent to be able to look at what we did in class, or have student who may have forgotten their notes at home have a way to still study for a quiz/test. Ultimately I decided on including finished notes because I would simply include a disclaimer that printed versions of my notes will not earn you credit. You have to turn in your own notes in your own handwriting. That way, it still forces students to take their notes one way or another. It may not do anything for a few, but for many in math, taking the time to look at something as you copy it down does transfer some knowledge. More than just printing them out and turning them in would, anyway.
Any other suggestions about what I could include would be appreciated! Links will be included in updates once I get a substantial amount of something done. 🙂
After my failed attempt to find use in a virtual world with Open Wonderland, I turned to an article about the best virtual worlds for kids entitled 10 Best Virtual Worlds for Teens, Tweens, and Kids. It was in there that I found Secret Builders, which from the description looked like it had the most educational merit so I dove right in. Basic play is free, exclusive play is $5.95 a month. Apparently, paying gets you exclusives areas and more coins per activity, but the free portion sure didn’t disappoint. It will be hard to do this world justice without having the reader just jump in and play, but I will try to highlight the things that appealed to me as a future parent and current teacher.
Overview:
I must say, that I LOVE this world. When I have young kids, I would encourage them to spend time in here. It allows them to create, play, and learn all at the same time. I wish it could have relevance to my area of teaching, but unfortunately it doesn’t. I would encourage anyone with young kids to have them look at it and play around in here/
What I liked:
While this VW has all the makings of fun and games – kids getting to make an avatar, converse with others, design their house, buy new clothes, furniture, and pets, and actually play games, it’s all mixed in to a completely educational experience. While you are simply out exploring the world, each space in littered with historical and literary figures. When you run into them, you can click on them and pull up a bibliography to learn key information about them. In a few minutes I had run into Lewis Carroll, Jane Austen, Aristotle, and the Beast. Yes, the figures can be real or fictional characters from prominent literary works as well. An example of what you see when pulling up their bibliography is shown below.
If you’d like to find other characters and haven’t run into them yet, there’s always a news feed or party to attend that revolves around these figures. Below is the screen shot to show what news events were being broadcast at the time I was in the world.
When you get into the heart of the game, you can go on quests, which are coin earning missions so that you can afford to buy some of the fun items like new clothes and pets. The current quest I am on had me searching for Lewis Carroll, so even if I hadn’t been meaning to, I inadvertently learned some facts about him, Alice in Wonderland, and Jaborwocky. While I was exploring, I also learned a few random facts like how many gallons of water the average person drinks. There seems to be something educational in every nook and cranny of the game, and it makes looking for these facts fun.
In every area you travel, there is at least one game to play. So what are the games involved you ask? Some skill-based, but mostly educational ones! I was so happy that I could play chess and get rewarded with coins! The better I play, the more coins I get. The game also gives you hints and helps you learn how to play. Below is a screen shot of me getting schooled…
Use in education:
From reading above, I’m sure you can make your own connections about how this can easily be integrated into an educational experience. While it may not fit perfectly into a specific unit, it would be a great way to have kids explore and find out information about history or literature on their own. There are also points where you can be a “story builder” and end stories others have begun. What a neat way to have students experiment with writing!
One of the other items that makes this useful for students is the chat feature. When you type, it shows up as your character with a little talk bubble so everyone in the same screen can see you and respond. I found this to be a great way to allow for collaboration when students are going on quests or problem solving something the teacher has assigned. There is of course a private chat, and many safety rules and regulations to keep children safe. You can find those on the website, but will not go into detail here.
Secret Builders also makes accommodations for teacher to make it more education friendly. From what I read, it allows teachers to set up accounts for their students and gives teachers control panels for their students. In addition to the internal rewards such as coins and prizes, the teacher is also given rewards through this control panel to pass out to students for meeting specific objectives that the teacher sets. I find it really helpful that Secret Builders allow teachers to do some customization and doesn’t just limit students to earning only what the public world has to offer. This is a HUGE plus for me, and I almost wish I was an elementary school teacher so that I could try implementing this.
The downside:
Every world has a downside, and the big one for me is that although it says it’s for 5 – 14 year olds, it just isn’t. Elementary students will love it, and that’s about as far as I can see going with it. Even when you look at this list of schools using it, there’s a sprinkling of middle schools, but the majority are definitely at elementary level. If you’re an elementary teacher though, this world is nearly perfect.
The other downsides, if I’m going to fish for them, is that the world can be confusing when getting started. But then again, what isn’t really? With a little experience, it’ll become easy for students, and I’m sure they will be motivated to learn it.
I would also worry about the crowding of the worlds. If you’re intending to use it as a class, I don’t know if you get your own separate sever or not (I’m not very skilled in reading and understanding server talk), but if not, there will be a LOT of other people to deal with. Below is a screen shot of how many people were on the main screen areas, and it is pretty representative of any time I explored.
Summary:
The free area of this world is very interesting and fun, as well as educational. The mission of the people who brought it to life was definitely met, and if I was a parent, I would encourage my kids to explore it. I also think it has merit as an elementary school tool, but unfortunately, it did not fit what I particularly was looking for in a virtual world. Still, I’m glad I found it and will keep it in mind for future kids! If you are in elementary education, I would definitely play around in it and consider finding a way to implement it in your classroom.
If you’d like to see more reviews from people who use it as actual parents, teachers, or students, visit this link.
A Look at Open Wonderland
Posted on: March 4, 2011
For my week’s virtual world exploration, I decided to venture into Open Wonderland (OWL). It seemed to be similar to Second Life (which I like, although I seem to be in the minority of my class) so I thought I would enjoy it. I was a Sims enthusiast in my college days, therefore I am not new to this type of environment.
Here’s a quick look at an exemplar world and some of the capabilities.
In my short time with it, here are the items that I saw appropriate to mention:
Pros:
The first thing that I noticed when browsing the site is that it is FREE. This is a huge plus for any educator who knows the struggles of trying to get funding for a new technology – especially one that is not universally accepted.
Another great plus is that it allows users to create their own world. So while many concerns about using virtual worlds are the presence of “bad neighborhoods,” users can rest assured that they will have their own private world.
Since OWL seems to really push itself towards business usages, it has security features to keep meetings private. Rather than reiterate them here, check out the video from their official site.
Cons:
Just as the ability to have your own world is a plus, it also can be a con for those who are networking challenged. Open Wonderland FAQ states that you need “good enough system administration skills to set up your own Wonderland server.” My initial reaction is “Huh?” and it automatically lost some brownie points for me. I am definitely not interested enough at this point to try and figure it out.
Since I cannot make my own world, I decided to try the OWL Demonstration World. It took me awhile to even figure out how to move! Apparently you have to use the arrow keys and do not have the capability to just point and click to where you would like to go. Major con. Plus, when you got to close to an object, the arrow keys didn’t work at times. Overall, moving around in this world was very frustrating.
Without having background knowledge of doing this, the world was very boring. There were no instructions to help me learn what to do or where to go. According to the website you can schedule an online guided tour, but that isn’t convenient for everyone. I prefer something that is user friendly to learn on my own time.
Summary:
While it’s nice that this virtual world is free and private unlike the more popular Second Life where you can run into bad neighborhoods and the need for premium accounts, there is a downside that outweighs these benefits. Without extensive knowledge of servers, you cannot easily set up a world for your own classroom. Even if you have that knowledge, manuvering about the world is tedious and doesn’t always work properly. I could see many students having a hard time or becoming frustrated with the process which would detract from the learning that should be happening. Based on my short time in Open Wonderland, I was not impressed enough to want to learn more about it. My current technological capabilities would not allow me to introduce it to my classroom, and even if I could have someone set it up, I feel that there are probably other worlds out there that are more user-friendly and inviting.
My first response to the article, Will it ever be time for Facebook? on ZDNet, is “I wish!”
I was really excited when I noticed that my school district did not block Facebook. No, it’s not because I’m a Facebook fiend, but because I was excited to have a school district who seemed really with the times. Once I got settled in with my curriculum, my goal was to take my classes to the internet for the next year. Just like the article mentioned, I imagined that the kids would no longer have ANY excuse for forgetting an assignment or upcoming quiz/test.
And then we blocked Facebook.
So rather than being with the times, we were actually behind the times…as in we were near last to block the horrid social networking sites.
When mentioning the abilities of Facebook, I was told that this is why we have class pages set up for each of us on the school website. It supposedly provides all the same communication tools that Facebook does: I can make announcements, set up event alerts, add students, and even add discussions. There’s only one problem – it’s not Facebook! I’m a strong believer that if we want to reach the underachievers, then we do need to meet them at their levels of communication just like the author of the article stated. Logging in to a separate website that has nothing to do with their at-home activities is just not something an apathetic student is going to do. However, I see them sneaking past firewalls and secretly (or so they think) pulling out phones all the time to check on Facebook updates. It’s something they want to do, and my class updates will be right there waiting for them! How could it get any better?
As a counter, I know people fear the whole “creepy treehouse” effect of teachers forcing students to be friends with them. But that’s what is great about Facebook…you can like a group without having to friend anyone in it. I can create a page for each of my classes, have my kids follow it, and neither they nor I have to friend each other. There’s no invasion of privacy like Facebook haters claim. So bring on the next argument, please.
As an alternative, there is always Edmodo. Since the CTER class is playing around with it, I’ve come to like it and it’s Facebook-like ways. It seems like a good second runner-up, but it still is a separate website that the kids need to have some reason to want to log in to. Motivated students will, just like they’ll do nearly anything required of them. But what pull is there for the unmotivated? It’s an education-based website, and if you don’t care about my class, why will you log in? That’s the question that will make me shoot down any alternative to the Facebook world because there is no answer. Edmodo, Schoology, and district-sponsored class websites are not going to hook those kids we struggle to reach. But on Facebook they can’t avoid us.
When I was reading the article Two to Three Years: Mobiles « 2010 Horizon Report: The K12 Edition, there is a section that mentions how cell phones and like devices can be used in the classroom. Since I am a math teacher, I scrolled down hoping to find something groundbreaking I can use. This is what I found:
Math. Skills that require drill and practice lend themselves to mobile study. Students can get in a few minutes of practice wherever they are — and as many of these applications have a game-like feel, they may not even mind the drills.
Now I have to ask, why is this revolutionary? We are supposed to be using technologies to expand how our students think, connect, and collaborate. So if the only example that can be used is for students to “drill and kill” on a mobile device, are mobile devices really changing the face of education in math? Yes, students have more access to practice, so yes, it is a great study tool. Ground breaking it is not. It is homework in 21st century format. It is comparable to the teacher who puts notes on a Powerpoint and then brags about how they incorporate technology into the classroom.
Maybe I haven’t found the right articles yet, but other than quick access to information, I have not found a great reason to have cell phones in a math class.
Stifling Creativity With VLEs?
Posted on: February 14, 2011
I was intrigued by a posting in VLE | PlanetChemistry’s Blog stating that the use of VLEs and other innovations may actually cause teachers to be conformist and fit a template.
I had to link to this and hopefully get other opinions because I just can’t imagine how this could possibly be the case? The introduction of VLEs and other aspects of online learning and communication has only opened the possibilities of what we can do as teachers, and I cannot see how more possibilities leads to the “tick box teaching” mentioned.
I don’t think that embracing the way the world is changing can ever not be considered the best way forward! Of course the technologies will change, and so will the way we teach, but we OWE it to students to be teaching them with what is current and what they are exposed to in the real world. Plus, how can one person lecturing at a class with a whiteboard and marker ever be considered equal to that same enthusiastic teacher teaching with aiding technology?
I think I had one too many of those “eccentric scientists” while obtaining my math degree, and I’m confident in saying that those types who I encountered really didn’t care about the quality of student learning. They were eccentric because they loved their material and their research, not the art of education. Sure their lectures may have appealed to a few students who really shared their love of differential equations, but the other 99% who were forced to take the class were bored out of their skulls. Me included. And I love doing math! I just don’t really find excitement in math lectures. Maybe my experiences with them aren’t the norm, so maybe I don’t appreciate what the author is claiming we lost with the implementation of teaching websites. But in response to the question of what the students think, I spent the class periods with the “traditional” professors outside with my textbook as opposed to in a lecture hall with the professor and whiteboard. Why spend the hour in class when I can do it on my own in the sunshine? It was the creative teacher who caught my attention, who made me look forward to and attend each class. And I can definitely say that those creative teachers were never the ones who went with strictly markers and whiteboard in the classroom. Technology aids and inspires creativity, and I just can’t see it any other way.
RE: Twitter at 6 Years of Age?
Posted on: February 3, 2011
Patrice Peyret: Twitter at 6 Years of Age?.
I really didn’t mean for both of my posts to start out with Twitter, but I do find this article interesting. And I’m not completely sure how I feel about this. On one hand, anything that goes outside of the box while students are still young is great. So many students hate school by the time they reach high school because it’s been boring and formulaic for so long. So, kudos to the teacher for finding something that encourages interaction, discussion, and still incorporates the basics of reading and writing that so many technophobes fear will disappear due to the use of technology. (Speaking of technophobes, read the comments on the article to see the viewpoint of someone who somehow thinks this practice will make kids “dumber.” Not quite sure how that works…)
On the other hand, I suppose I am a little worried about 6 year olds being exposed to the world wide web and being taught how to access these types of accounts. I know now how Twitter works (a little bit), and I do know that people cannot contact these children at random. However, on the sign in page, there are random tweets from random people, and I worry about students clicking on them and “following” others that are not a part of the class. I’d be worried about what these students could possibly be exposed to while using this service, and would feel a little more confident if there was an education-specific service that would function the same.
I suppose what it boils down to is that the fact that 6 year olds are tweeting doesn’t bother me at all, but rather, I worry about everything else that is out there on Twitter. It is not a dedicated VLE, and I think that is an important factor to consider when dealing with young students who are not ready to sort through everything that is available on the web. I’d be a HUGE fan of this if there was a Twitter for educators and students alone…or maybe there is?
Oh Where Do I Start…?
Posted on: January 25, 2011
- In: EPSY590VE
- 2 Comments
I wasn’t sure where to start off with this blog, so I figured I’d start by looking into my most despised tool – Twitter.
There’s just something about Twitter that I never understood. I guess I’m one of the few who doesn’t really care that you’re drinking coffee at the moment or mowing the lawn as Twitter in Plain English mentions. I also find it creepy that you’d want to know at this very moment that I’m sitting on my couch in penguin pjs. For this same reason I hardly touch the status option on Facebook even though I am a daily visitor. However, enough of my rant. I decided to expand my horizons and try and see the usefulness of it before I dive in and give it a shot this semester. In my searches, I came upon this video which may have convinced me that Twitter CAN in fact be useful…and in even more amazing to me…in education!
I really like this idea to have everyone participate. It can be used while in lecture listening; students can tweet questions or thoughts during a presentation and then they can be addressed later so the presentation doesn’t have to be interrupted and there’s no worry of forgetting exactly what you were going to ask. It can be extended that students tweet thoughts while at home reading selections before the next class so the tweets can be discussed as a whole. Outside of a large college lecture environment pictured, I can see a secondary government teacher assigning students to tweet during a major speech like this week’s state of the union address.
Yes, I have changed my tune a tad about Twitter. Amazingly, I’m actually seeing more of a use for it in certain areas of education than I do for everyone else. Now the question is, can it be applied to math? I haven’t found anything that impresses me or isn’t completely contrived, so please feel free to try and impress me with uses of Twitter in algebra class!
AndreaCTER 