ECMP 355 Blog

For this task I created a video which explians 5 reasons why technology should be used in the classroom. Enjoy…

Dean Shareski gave a presentation to our class regarding how to properly design a presentation. For this Tech Task, I researched the provided resources on tips for designing a presentation. I then kept those tips in mind when designing my PowerPoint presentation for my final project. If you have the time please review this presentation and critique it so that I can learn how to create better presentations.
Thanks…

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This is my “MasterCard” commercial for Tech Task #3, enjoy…

Bullying is a problem that has been troubling schools for a long time.  However, with the advance of technology, bullying has been able to take a new shape, one that may be just as or even more damaging than the traditional form.

What is unique about cyber bullying is the fact that it never ends.  Name calling in the hallways of a school, although very upsetting for some students, can end once they walk in the safe environment of their homes.  Bullying that takes place on the Internet is permanent.  Once something is posted online, it is virtually impossible to remove all copies of it.  Because of this fact, the person being bullied is really unable to escape the bullying behaviour at anytime, because the evidence and the actions are always there.

Another unique situation about cyber bullying is the wide audience that the Internet allows for people.  With the traditional form of bullying, it was usually only the people in the school or neighborhood community who are aware of the bullying and who know who is being victimized.  With cyber bullying, the bullying takes place in a public place with millions of potential viewers to view the humiliation.  Because of this large audience, the person being bullied is unable to remove themselves from the situation because they may truly be recognized throughout the entire world depending on the amount of viewers that the bullying activities had.  Also, these viewers may encourage people who have not even met the person being bullied to take part and mock or humiliate or bully the person themselves.  This means that the amounts of bullies can grow from those who live in your community to people all around the world.

These are just a few of the points as to why cyber bullying can really be so dangerous, and for these and other reasons, we as teachers need to be aware and need to take action.  But this raises a question for me, where do the teachers need to draw the line, or should we even draw a line of when we can step in or not.  If all this activity takes place outside of school hours and on personal computer equipment are we still allowed to step in?  I think that teachers should intervene when actions that our taking place online are affecting the school community and members within it.  But is there any point when legally it would be argued that teachers have no business getting involved?  I hope not.  Cyber bullying can really be detrimental to those involved, and we need to do as much as possible to prevent it, and help those students who have been victimized.

With all of the discussion about PowerPoint and other forms of slide presentations that we have been having in our class lately, I was reminded of what a Psychology professor that I once had said.  He said that he never liked putting his notes in PowerPoint and posting them on the internet, but because students continually asked him to do it he eventually did.

He found that after he had begun to post his PowerPoint notes online his class averages dropped significantly.  He says that he felt this was because students knew that the notes would be available for them online at a later date so they would not pay as close attention as they would have in class if they had to take their own notes.  Also, the act of actually writing things down can aide in remembering for some people.  Even though the grades had dropped, the professor continued to post his notes because of the overwhelming desire by the students.

What do you think about these statements?  Do you think that maybe the fact that students have notes available for them to read online that they will not pay as close attention in class, or maybe even get a worse grade in the class because the notes are already laid out for them rather than having them take their own notes?

There has been a great amount of talk lately about how we can have students use cell phones as an educational tool in the classroom.  I have seen great presentations being given about cellphone use, and how text messaging can be used to our advantage in the classroom as teachers, rather than a distraction.

The one thing that comes to mind when I hear this is that cell phone use is not free.  Especially text messaging.  Some cellphone monthly plans do not include text messaging, and there is a “per message” charge that applies to each message sent.  I did some research and found an article by Joni Bleche, which states that 73% of teens’ cellphone bills are being paid for by their parents.  If the parents are paying for cellphone usage, should we as teachers be careful encouraging students to use the phones during class when they could be racking up the charges to their parent’s bills?  How can we avoid this type of situation?

Any input from you regarding this topic would be great.

A large number of this generation of students like to play video games in their spare time.  It is something that they enjoy to do on their own, as well as with friends in their home or across the Internet.  If there was only someway for us as teachers to use this video gaming interest in how we teach…  well there is. 

One great example of a video game designed to teach students comes in the subject area of mathematics.  A company TabulaDigita has developed a game called Dimension M, which allows students to practice and test their mathematical skills while participating in the game.  On the game’s website there is a leader board which displays the top players and schools at that time which adds to the competition aspect and may encourage students to try harder.  The game even ties itself to curriculum objectives and the website provides a list of the objectives it meets and how it meets them.

I have never seen the game in action myself, but there are several testimonials on the site, which talk about how the game really helps the students with the math concepts.  I can certainly see benefits with this type of approach.  One thing that I think is important with using video games in the class is that they must also be fun, interesting and engaging to the students.  (I am in no way saying the Dimension M game is not any of these things because as I said, I have not seen it myself)  If the games are not fun to the students, and they only see them as math games that they would not play in any other circumstance, then I really don’t know if they will be getting the full benefit from it.

I think that this Dimension M game is a great idea, and I encourage you to take a look at it and let me know what you think.  I plan to look into it more, and hopefully will get the chance to try it out in the near future.

I heard a great presentation by a teacher in the United States who is doing some cutting edge work with his students in Second Life.  The idea he had was great and interesting, and of course I did not write down his name or school division thinking I would be able to find information about it through google, but I have not yet been able to find it.  If after you read this post you have heard of this before and have more info on who did it or where it is being done PLEASE comment back to me to let me know.

These students are using SecondLife as a tool to learn from students of another culture.  In the case he was talking about, the students from the United States where working with students in Japan.  They worked on several projects cooperatively, learning from each other.  The one that he mentioned that really sounded great was that one day the American students put on a celebration for a holiday and the Japanese students attended and learned all about what it was.  They created buildings, statues and all other sorts of things that would have been present at a similar celebration in the RealLife United states.  This allowed the Japanese students to really be immersed in the celebration and truly understand what happens.  Then later the Japanese students hosted a celebration for one of their holidays and did the same sort of thing creating buildings, costumes, and other artifacts.

I think this is an amazing idea and it really allows the students to learn from each other rather than from a textbook.  It is like the old idea of pen pals, but in real time, and interactive.

Check out this sleducation site that I found, it explains some other ways that a simulation world like SecondLife can be used for educational purposes  http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses , and please let me know if you have ever heard of the classroom project I mentioned in this post.

Digital Learning in Prairie South School Division

The myth of the “disconnected” rural school has just been busted. I have heard arguments from others (including fellow preservice teachers) that the rural schools are not as technologically advanced as their urban counterparts. I have never believed those statements, and now I have proof to show them that with our new digital age, and easy access to technology and internet, rural schools can be just as technologically advanced, and in this case maybe even more so.

Today I watched a video on YouTube made by the Prairie South School Division in southern Saskatchewan. This video documents some of the ways that technology is being put to use in their schools. There are several great ideas that different teachers and schools are using to incorporate technology into the learning process.

The one point that really stood out for me was the fact that some schools have data projectors in all of their classrooms. This was amazing to me. I have seen data projectors in computer labs before, but never every single class. I think that is a great step to take. The chalkboard is such a static teaching tool, to be able to have the ability to occasionally (or maybe even the majoprity of the time) use a dynamic tool like a data projector and a computer, I believe it will be a great tool to engage the class.

Take a second to watch this video if you haven’t already done so, and see how a school division in southern Saskatchewan is really making great strides and being a leader in using technology to our advantage as teachers.