7

- Children today often interact w/ multiple media inputs simultaneously

- Exposed to 8.5 hours of media use daily

- We, as teachers, cannot ignore this (media multi-tasking) -- risk losing the attention, motivation, & interest of students

- Community building = critical element of meaningful learning (students engage in social negotiation & shared knowledge building)

- Internet > community-centered future

- Communication in an online forum is better than face-to-face communication & other technology-based forms (phone & videoconferencing)

- Although we lose communication cues to meaning (body language, tone of voice, accents, pauses, etc), authors must ensure they are communicating clearly

- Computer conferencing-- group discussion-- messages are stored on computers rather than sent real time (instant messaging)

- Attributes of computer conferencing (142)

- What advantages does computer conferencing have over a face-to-face discussion?

- Supports long-distance collaboration among learners

- Enables learners to reflect on their ideas or responses before making them

- Scaffolds different kinds of thinking

- Asynchronous communication (discussion boards)

- Collaborating & discussing meaningful topics outside school allow students to dig deeper & establishes a classroom community that exists beyond one class period

- Supports second-language learning bc provides nonnative speakers time to consider & articulate their ideas

- Increasing one's knowledge, understanding, tolerance, & valuing of other individuals' customs, opinions, & beliefs can have a positive effect on students' ability to work together in collaborative groups

- For students to meaningfully participate in conversations, they must be able to interpret messages, consider appropriate responses, & construct coherent replies

- Our goal, as teachers, is to encourage critical thinking within the discussion (look out for shallow conversation--'I agree', that is unfocused or demonstrates misconceptions, uncertainty or imprecise thinking)

- Suggestion: provide a forum for general discussion

- Guidelines for online discussions (149)

- Instant messaging

- Increases communication & allows easy collaboration

- Guidelines for safety for online communication (152)

- Videoconferencing

- Allows 2+ locations to interact simultaneously by two-way video & audio transmissions

- Connects students in live interactions w/ experts to whom they would otherwise have no access

- Bridges gaps between schools & the community

- Advantages

- Increases motivation

- Improves communication & presentation skills

- Allows students to learn to ask better questions

- Increases communication w/ the outside world

- Lets students learn from a primary source rather than a textbook

- Increases the depth of understanding in subject area content

- Podcasting

- Gives students who may be more skilled in oral communication than in written words the chance to excel

I like the idea of having a discussion board for my students to comment and have conversations about what they are learning in class. I think this will help transform the class from a group of individual students to a community of learners because they will carry on and further their interactions with each other outside the classroom. The discussion board can be separated into different sections, such as one for every school subject. It can also include a "General" section where students can post topics that are completely unrelated to school. For example, a student can post a new topic about a movie he recently watched or talk about his new pet dog. However, I think discussion boards should only be used with upper elementary school students.

There are so many different technologies to use in the classroom, such as twitter, blogs, podcasts, and discussion boards, to name a few. I do not think it is possible to use all these technologies in my classroom, nor do I want to, as doing so might overwhelm myself and my students. I plan to use only several of these technologies. For example, using both a twitter and a blog seems redundant. I prefer to use a blog because the writer can go into detail about what is done in class. Furthermore, if my students help to update the blog, I can use it to help them practice identifying and writing main ideas and supporting details.

I will not use instant messaging in my classroom. I think that this promotes the idea of children sitting in front of a computer, talking to their friends online, instead of playing with them outside.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I think videoconferencing is a great idea. It can be achieved by using a webcam, which is why I chose this as my topic for the Technology Inquiry Project. Videoconferencing has many benefits, as listed in the "Notes" section of my post. I especially like that it gives students access to people and experts who they may otherwise not be able to communicate with. The book also mentioned using webcams to document a class field trip, which I think is a neat idea. For example, if the class visits an art museum and the teacher later teaches a lesson involving one of the artist's pieces that they viewed, they can easily refer back to the video taken of the class trip.

Note to self: bookmark Radio WillowWeb and 'Our City' podcast web site

6

We make our tools, and then they shape us.

We have created such advanced technologies that allow us immediate access to one another, and as a result, we have grown dependent on them.

- Social software allows people to collaborate through computer-mediated communication & to form online communities

- Schools inhibit rather than support knowledge building by:

- Focusing on individual students' abilities & learning

- Requiring only demonstrable knowledge, activities, & skills as evidence of learning

- Teacher-hoarding wisdom & expertise

- Students' knowledge tends to be devalued or ignored

- Wikis

- Allows users to add, remove, or edit available content

- Problem > anyone can create & edit wiki pages so the content may not be accurate

- Environments for students to engage in collaborative work that can continually evolve & improve

- Promotes critical analysis > students evaluate the ideas being co-constructed, make decisions regarding their validity, & participate in a knowledge-building community

Wiki project idea: Students are faced w/ complex choices & outcomes affect the characters

Idea: Students can create their own version of Wikipedia to study or review for a test

Technology can be used to promote collaborative learning. Prior to reading the chapter, I was familiar with several of the community building resources discussed, such as wikis and blogs.

I like the idea of using wikis for class projects, such as the Holocaust project. Students' learning is enhanced when they are able to share and discuss their ideas.

Both teacher-created and student-created blogs are beneficial to use in the classroom. I plan to have a classroom blog for my students and their parents to visit. It will mainly feature what we have been studying in class, and I will post videos and pictures of class activities. The use of a blog in my classroom is the same as the idea of tweeting in the classroom, which I discussed in a previous journal entry. The main difference is that, with a blog, the user has an unlimited amount of characters he can type. So, in my classroom, we can go into detail when discussing what is learned in class and the activities in which the class participates. The benefits are also the same as using twitter. For example, it can improve students' writing.

I also like the idea of each student maintaining his own blog, although this may only be suitable for upper elementary students. The teacher can give students prompts or questions and have students respond to these on their blogs. Because blogs are more informal writing than formal, I think that students will feel more comfortable sharing their opinions. Blogs are also great tools to use to evaluate students' understanding of material if they are required to reflect on activities and information learned in class.

I like the idea of connecting my students with others around the world. Resources such as KidLink, Global Schoolhouse, and iEARN make this possible. It exposes students to people of various cultures and backgrounds and allows them to interact with people who have different perspectives from them. These resources are great promoters of diversity.

The chapter reminded me of a web site I critiqued for another class--Teachers(dot)Net. The site was founded to provide teachers a community, free of charge, where they can communicate, share, and contribute their experiences, knowledge, and ideas. The site offers lesson plans, classroom projects, email discussions, articles, a forum, and job listings. The site is a great supportive community that is beneficial for teachers. For instance, the "Chatboards" section, or the Mentor Support Center, acts as a forum where users can post questions, ask for advice, start a discussion of any topic, and respond to others' posts. All the sections in the forum are active, and by responding to others' posts and by contributing new discussion topics, users are able to network and build relationships with other users. The site also allows users to subscribe to various mailrings, where they can receive information ranging from hot topics in the classroom to specific subject areas, and connect with others who share similar interests.