Annetta, L. (2009). Designing and evaluating educational video games. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36, Retrieved August 7, 2009, from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume3620082009/SeptemberOctoberNo2/L_L_September_October_2008.htm
Educators are realizing that what today’s children do after school is very different from what children of past generations have done. With a lot of today’s learning emphasis being placed on end-of-grade instruction preparing students for tests, how can move children away from the rote memorization of facts towards developing skills that connect and manipulate information? One of the answers is through gaming.
North Carolina schools are introducing virtual learning environments in the science for grades K-12 through HIFIVES, Highly Interactive Fun Internet Virtual Environments in Science. Students explore a virtual world by having teams of students assume the roles of characters in the games and work collaboratively to solve challenges. Many plots of the K-12 games involve story-lines that align closely to movies and television, CSI for example, because those story-lines engage the student population.
A four-year project is underway that is enabling teachers and students to design and evaluate educational video games that will enhance student learning. By using source code from Half-Life 2 students and teachers can develop their own games that align with state science and mathematics curriculum objectives by using “drag and drop” tools as opposed to having to write the code to develop the games. Class assignments can be more engaging and effective if instead of assigning a research paper, teachers would have their students create a game to teach one another the subject matter. This North Carolina gaming initiative has been made possible by the funds allotted from a National Science Foundation grant.
How can this get rolled out to other schools? The success of this program can be showcased to other school districts by using teacher and student testimonials and presenting the video games that were developed.
What might be the limitations to rolling this out on a broader scale? If schools do not have the necessary computer equipment available for teachers and students to use in this capacity, then the rollout would be delayed until additional funding is available so it can be purchased.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Friday, August 7, 2009
Web 2.0 - Class wiki (Nets T 1, 2, 3 & 5)
This is a page that I made on our Web 2.0 class wiki using WetPaint. I researched and reported on a great quiz tool, QuizStar.
http://csusmwebtools.wetpaint.com/
http://csusmwebtools.wetpaint.com/
Journal Article #9 - Science & Technology
Mader, J., Smith, B. (2009). Science + technology = creativity (and Fun!). Learning & Leading with Technology, 35, Retrieved August 4, 2009, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200908/
How can we as educators get science students to break out of the stereotypical scientific model of linear thinking with an implicit following of a set of procedures and protocols to help investigate and solve problems? There is a three-step process that will help science students be creative in their scientific endeavors.
The first step is to afford students with opportunities to use the tools of scientific and creative inquiry. In the first project students will be asked to complete an assignment with clear laboratory and investigative procedures, but will also be asked to use a microphone, digital camera or camcorder to present their findings. With each additional assignment have students use a different technological tool so they have more choices in their digital toolbox. As time goes on, you will be able to challenge students more by giving them assignments or project that are more vague in procedural expectations and have open-ended product descriptions. This type of assignment or project hones in on cognitive skills and allows students to refer back to their digital “toolbox” to use the type of technological tool that would best help them get to their final product.
The second step involves time. At first students may need additional time to become more familiar with the software and hardware tools that they will be using as science students, but as they become proficient with the tools less time will be needed. The final step happens after the students have all the equipment needed in their digital toolboxes and have been given ample time to complete assignments. At this juncture, you can be vague with students on describing the final product. Give students all the required content, but don’t be specific about their mode of delivering the final product. This encourages creativity and innovativeness.
How does technology breed creativity in science? By allowing students to present their findings to one another they can showcase their creativity and get cool new ideas from other students.
What would be a good way to gauge students’ proficiencies with all of the tools used throughout the school year? Have a final project that is vague in nature, but requires all of the technological tools to be incorporated or used in some manner.
How can we as educators get science students to break out of the stereotypical scientific model of linear thinking with an implicit following of a set of procedures and protocols to help investigate and solve problems? There is a three-step process that will help science students be creative in their scientific endeavors.
The first step is to afford students with opportunities to use the tools of scientific and creative inquiry. In the first project students will be asked to complete an assignment with clear laboratory and investigative procedures, but will also be asked to use a microphone, digital camera or camcorder to present their findings. With each additional assignment have students use a different technological tool so they have more choices in their digital toolbox. As time goes on, you will be able to challenge students more by giving them assignments or project that are more vague in procedural expectations and have open-ended product descriptions. This type of assignment or project hones in on cognitive skills and allows students to refer back to their digital “toolbox” to use the type of technological tool that would best help them get to their final product.
The second step involves time. At first students may need additional time to become more familiar with the software and hardware tools that they will be using as science students, but as they become proficient with the tools less time will be needed. The final step happens after the students have all the equipment needed in their digital toolboxes and have been given ample time to complete assignments. At this juncture, you can be vague with students on describing the final product. Give students all the required content, but don’t be specific about their mode of delivering the final product. This encourages creativity and innovativeness.
How does technology breed creativity in science? By allowing students to present their findings to one another they can showcase their creativity and get cool new ideas from other students.
What would be a good way to gauge students’ proficiencies with all of the tools used throughout the school year? Have a final project that is vague in nature, but requires all of the technological tools to be incorporated or used in some manner.
Journal Article #8 - One-to-One Tools
Bouterse, B., Corn, J.O., Halstead, E.O. (2009). Choosing the perfect tools for one-to-one. Learning & Leading with Technology, 35, Retrieved August 4, 2009, from http://www.learningandleading-digital.com/learning_leading/200908/
As technology becomes more and more integrated with our daily activities more schools will strive to adopt a one-to-one policy to better students computing capabilities so they can be more proficient both inside and outside of school. This article discusses the criteria that should be considered when a school or district is considering what sort of one-to-one computing environment they would like to create. Some important questions to ask when selecting hardware and software options are:
- Will the computing device be used for single purpose (word processing or graphing) or as a multi-purpose machine ready to accept new software, content, or internet capability?
- What operating system do you have the resources to support (Windows, Linux, Mac OS)?
- Do you want to install local applications, use web applications, or both?
- Do you want to install local content (files, data, documents, presentations, and images) onto the devices hard drive, use web content, or both?
- Will you be using peripheral equipment – probes, microscopes, GPS units, digital cameras, printers or projectors?
- What can you do to protect the computing device from everyday wear and tear from the students and staff?
- What is the total cost of ownership for the technology?
- What will overall customer (student/teacher) satisfaction be with the technology that is chosen?
One-to-one computing may be costly, but it is a worthwhile investment as it is investing in the student’s ability to successfully navigate in a world that is increasingly utilizing computers.
What is the benefit of using web-based applications? By using web-based applications computer portability becomes less of an issue since documents and work can be accessed from any computer with Internet access.
Why is it important to consider more than just the cost of the device when making a one-to-one computing environment decision? Although the cost of the actual device may be less expensive than the other devices you are considering, there are other costs associated with the device that can contribute to an overall higher total cost of ownership. Other factors that should contribute to your decision making should be: the cost of support for the device and it’s software package, the cost of training personnel to become proficient in using the device, costs associated with connectivity and networking with the new devices, additional costs of software needing to be purchased because they are not included on the chosen device, replacement costs and the cost of any retrofitting that must take place.
As technology becomes more and more integrated with our daily activities more schools will strive to adopt a one-to-one policy to better students computing capabilities so they can be more proficient both inside and outside of school. This article discusses the criteria that should be considered when a school or district is considering what sort of one-to-one computing environment they would like to create. Some important questions to ask when selecting hardware and software options are:
- Will the computing device be used for single purpose (word processing or graphing) or as a multi-purpose machine ready to accept new software, content, or internet capability?
- What operating system do you have the resources to support (Windows, Linux, Mac OS)?
- Do you want to install local applications, use web applications, or both?
- Do you want to install local content (files, data, documents, presentations, and images) onto the devices hard drive, use web content, or both?
- Will you be using peripheral equipment – probes, microscopes, GPS units, digital cameras, printers or projectors?
- What can you do to protect the computing device from everyday wear and tear from the students and staff?
- What is the total cost of ownership for the technology?
- What will overall customer (student/teacher) satisfaction be with the technology that is chosen?
One-to-one computing may be costly, but it is a worthwhile investment as it is investing in the student’s ability to successfully navigate in a world that is increasingly utilizing computers.
What is the benefit of using web-based applications? By using web-based applications computer portability becomes less of an issue since documents and work can be accessed from any computer with Internet access.
Why is it important to consider more than just the cost of the device when making a one-to-one computing environment decision? Although the cost of the actual device may be less expensive than the other devices you are considering, there are other costs associated with the device that can contribute to an overall higher total cost of ownership. Other factors that should contribute to your decision making should be: the cost of support for the device and it’s software package, the cost of training personnel to become proficient in using the device, costs associated with connectivity and networking with the new devices, additional costs of software needing to be purchased because they are not included on the chosen device, replacement costs and the cost of any retrofitting that must take place.
Journal Article #7 - Beyond Social Networking
Reynard, R. (2009). Beyond social networking: building toward learning communities. The Journal, July, Retrieved August 1, 2009, from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2009/07/15/Beyond-Social-Networking-Building-Toward-Learning-Communities.aspx?Page=1
This article suggests that the use of social networking tools in teaching and learning is only the beginning of a longer and more complex process of socially constructed learning and ultimately collaboration and knowledge building. Social networking provides new ways to connect and share information and create networks of immediately, but it does not necessarily lead to learning communities or the sharing of ideas. An active learning community involves effective relationships, idea exchange and knowledge construction. The instructor must support the learning communities and sharing of ideas to engage students beyond social networking to the social construction of knowledge. The teacher can do so by: maintaining a constant presence; maximizing variety in how information is processed and applied by using a variety of supporting tools, such as a blog and a wiki; creating workable focus areas by synthesizing broadly scoped ideas to ensure that ideas are managed and grown; providing a customized approach to each student so every student feels connected to the subject at hand and by integrating the new ideas students offer so they understand their participation in the learning community.
With expert intervention by the teacher, social networking tools are forums for encouraging student confidence and learner autonomy and developing collaborative learning skills. Our goal as educators should be to encourage children to develop the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes, pool knowledge and compare notes with others to develop a collective intelligence and have the ability to travel across diverse communities.
What is a good way to engage students by using a social networking site? Provide students with a problem to solve or information to research and discuss how using delicious.com, a social bookmarking site would be beneficial to use. Have the students sign up for a delicious account and complete the research and reflect on how delicious helped them find the research.
How can instructors encourage students to become learning community participants using social networking? Create a class project in which each student plays a role in finding out one piece of information on a broader subject. The student would share their information to the class by using the social networking site. After every student has contributed, the instructor would be able to present the subject and recap what each student’s contribution was to the overall subject matter, thus each student would see their contribution to the final presentation as valuable.
This article suggests that the use of social networking tools in teaching and learning is only the beginning of a longer and more complex process of socially constructed learning and ultimately collaboration and knowledge building. Social networking provides new ways to connect and share information and create networks of immediately, but it does not necessarily lead to learning communities or the sharing of ideas. An active learning community involves effective relationships, idea exchange and knowledge construction. The instructor must support the learning communities and sharing of ideas to engage students beyond social networking to the social construction of knowledge. The teacher can do so by: maintaining a constant presence; maximizing variety in how information is processed and applied by using a variety of supporting tools, such as a blog and a wiki; creating workable focus areas by synthesizing broadly scoped ideas to ensure that ideas are managed and grown; providing a customized approach to each student so every student feels connected to the subject at hand and by integrating the new ideas students offer so they understand their participation in the learning community.
With expert intervention by the teacher, social networking tools are forums for encouraging student confidence and learner autonomy and developing collaborative learning skills. Our goal as educators should be to encourage children to develop the ability to interpret and construct dynamic models of real-world processes, pool knowledge and compare notes with others to develop a collective intelligence and have the ability to travel across diverse communities.
What is a good way to engage students by using a social networking site? Provide students with a problem to solve or information to research and discuss how using delicious.com, a social bookmarking site would be beneficial to use. Have the students sign up for a delicious account and complete the research and reflect on how delicious helped them find the research.
How can instructors encourage students to become learning community participants using social networking? Create a class project in which each student plays a role in finding out one piece of information on a broader subject. The student would share their information to the class by using the social networking site. After every student has contributed, the instructor would be able to present the subject and recap what each student’s contribution was to the overall subject matter, thus each student would see their contribution to the final presentation as valuable.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Classroom Newsletter (Nets T 1 & 3)
I created a classroom newsletter using microsoft word. A newsletter is a great way to communicate class events and information to students and parents. In my newsletter I used columns, clipart, drop caps, graphics and bullets to make it visually appealing.
NewsletterJE#2
NewsletterJE#2
Nets S Power Point Presentation (Nets T 1, 2, 3 & 5)
This is a powerpoint presentation that I did which incorporated the use of custom slides, graphics, hyperlinks, slide transitions and special effects. This presentation represents my knowledge of ISTE Nets S (students) and the sample lesson plans I created for performance indicators for grades K-2.
Power Point
View more presentations from jilledmo.
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