Week 15: Games for Teaching and Learning

This week we read and found out about games and their influence on education.  More specifically, we looked at Second Life.  I have never heard of Second Life before and was certainly surprised when I saw the video about what Second Life is.  It is basically a virtual world in which people live.  However, this is completely virtual and on the computer.  One can live as if he or she is in the real-world.  Educational aspects are also incorporated and there are games that help students read, write, and do math.  I think that as far as education is concerned, Second Life is a great invention.  This is a fun way for students to learn and can easily keep them interested.  However, I think that this can also be detrimental because it can have a potentially negative impact on real-world socializing.  Students can start to rely on the virtual world too much and forget that they are indeed in the real-world and forget how to communicate with people.  I always think that as far as computers and virtual games are concerned, there needs to be monitoring.

As a teacher, I would definitely look into using Second Life or something similar to it.  I think that gaming is a great way for students to learn and to stay engaged.  However, as mentioned, I think that computer games should be supplementary to the teacher actually teaching.  I would not treat computer games as a lecture, but would include them as an addition to a lecture.  This way students can reinforce what they learned form me through a more interactive way (by students' standards).

I found a quick review about Second Life on YouTube.  This video looks at how Second Life can help students with exam reviews.  The video uses the SAT and the ACT to show how students can have review sessions through Princeton Review in the virtual world.  I think that this is a great way to get some important information about education and the exams that are necessary for college entrance.

Week 14: Distance Education and Virtual Schooling

This week we looked at distance eduction and virtual schooling, as in online schools and classes.  This is yet another way that technology has been changing education.  Having all of our classes online is now a possibility.  There are even online colleges where a person can receive a degree without ever stepping foot in a classroom.  This is certainly due to the new technological resources.  As noted in class, there are a lot of benefits to online education, students can, in a way, be their own teachers and follow their own pace.  Nonetheless, I think that it is important to limit entire online education, because communicating and socializing with other students is limited.  Also, we looked at how gaming has an effect on education.  Some of the websites that are posted for this week are extremely helpful to students and teachers.  For example, Star Fall has a word hunt which students can use to practice words and spelling.  Another site, Planet Buster, lets students do math problems.  All of these are beneficial to students.  They also use technology, the computer and the internet, which is becoming more and more popular in classrooms and something that just about all students are familiar with.

I think that using technology and websites, especially the ones that are presented in this class, is a great way to engage students.  I think that they can easily mix education and fun.  A lot of students can be impatient when they need to use a paper and pencil to do work, so being able to go on the computer to complete assignments would certainly be more fun.  Also, I think that a lot of students will go on the computer and will play games anyway, so we might as well provide them with educational activities and games.  As a teacher, I will definitely look up websites that students can use to help them with classwork and homework.  I think that by the time I become a teacher, technology will be even more advanced, therefore, I need to prepare for this fact.

This video discusses virtual schooling.  The video recognizes some of the benefits of virtual schools by looking at a young student who is able to pursue here athletics as well as her academics. Virtual schooling helps her stay on track with education as well as providing her with the time to practice tennis and travel for tournaments.  This certain virtual school is free and provides books and computers for students to use.  The parents also see the benefits and entirely agree to this type of schooling.  This video is good at showing some of the benefits that students experience because of online schooling.

Week 13: Web Presence

This week we learned about making our own website.  We went over the importance of having a website, especially for work purposes.  Making a website appear professional is extremely important because potential employers will be viewing the page.  We will be using Google Sites to make out own websites.  These will include a welcome page, a personal page, a page with our portfolio and our resume.  Theses are all a great way for employers to get to know a person.  We were also able to read up on distance education and the many aspects of it, both negative and positive.  Technology is highly important in distance education because a lot of the coursework, if not most of it, is done on the computer and online.  Many of the assignments are turned in online, as with the Florida Virtual School.

Distance education is important for me to know and be familiar with because teachers are involved in teaching these courses, even if they are online and no formal contact is made with the teacher.  I also need to be aware of distance education, in case I need to teach an online course, especially with older-age students.  Distance education is in the education field and as a teacher I need to know about this.  Additionally, creating a website can be beneficial for teachers.  This can be used to find jobs (when applying) and to share information with students and parents.

Here is a YouTube video which explains the process of setting up a Google Site.  The narrator goes over everything that we did in class in order to set up our own sites.  This is great to look at for further help, as well as many of the other videos that are on YouTube.

Week 12: Social Tools and Cloud Computing

Today we began by learning about cloud computing, which means that we can save and use applications on the web without having to actually use the same computer to access that information.  The whole idea is that we know that cloud computing is there without really knowing how it works.  One such example is Google Docs.  We went over how to open up Google Doc and actually use it.  We also discussed Social Bookmarking and one site that we went over is Delicious.  Delicious allows for people to bookmark web pages and save them, so that they can be accessed on any computer.  Delicious is very organized in that it lets people tag their bookmarks so that they can easily find a certain bookmark in the future.  Delicious functions similar to the tabs on our computer, however, the Delicious web page can be accessed from any computer, which is very convenient.

Social tools are very helpful for teachers.  Teachers can share web pages, websites, and information through Delicious.  Everyone can view each others bookmarks and this allows for easy sharing.  Teachers can take advantage of this and help each other out.  As a teacher, I would like to use Delicious to bookmark web pages about lesson plans.  Then I can share these pages with other teachers who can also benefit form the information.  Additionally, Google Docs can be used to interact with students as well as parents.  Also, students can collaborate and work on group assignments using Google Docs.

This article is an interesting one, because it discusses Google Docs and the competing apps from Microsoft.  It introduces topics and then explains which features fare better.  This article goes along with what we learned in class about Google Docs and the real time collaboration that Google Docs is famous for.

Week 11: Open Source Software

This week we did not have class, however, we had to read up on Open Source Software.  This was the first time that I heard about this free software and I was really excited to look into it.  Open Source is free for anyone to download to their computer and includes programs just like Microsoft Word, Excel, Spreadsheet, and even Photoshop.  It was interesting to see all the programs that can actually be downloaded for free to someone's computer, instead of having to pay the hefty price for these programs.  OpenOffice.org is great to have because with it, a person can get all the essential programs for free.  Source Forge also provides people with numerous programs that can be downloaded to the computer.

When I become a teacher, I will certainly advocate and advertise open source software, because it is a shame that so many people do not know about it.  This will be something that I would let the parents know about.  They can download these programs for their children while their kids are still young, so that parents do not have to spend so much on buying the programs.  Also, I will let the school administrators know about open source and other teachers as well.  I think since school budgets are so tight, it is important to know about this free software.

This is a video from YouTube that discusses a few open source programs.  The lady in the video talks about Open Office as well as Mozilla Firefox and many other programs.  She actually goes on to define what open source actually is and gives examples of how open source is made.  This is a great video for people who want more information about open source programs and it even parallels with what we learned in class.

Week 10: Spring Break :)

My Podcast

My podcast is a fun little poem by a children's author named Jack Prelutsky.  As well as being funny and interesting this poem is for children and this is a poem that I would certainly read to students in my class one day.  I think that podcasts are important as far as presentations are concerned, because they can be downloaded and listened to whenever.  For example, I can record lectures and my students can download them and listen to them on their own time.  Podcasts can also be crucial for online or distance classes.  Teachers can record their lectures and presentations and send them out to students, who can then get the information without having to be in a real-time classroom.