ETC Blog#8

Regarding blogging I still new to this and seems that I am reiterating the same thing over and over because I am a digital immigrant learning about every single Web 2.0 application. That is the norm when persons experience with technology is limited to the use of word processors and email.

I like blogs because they provide an opportunity to write about what is important to us from the personal or professional standpoint. At the time I am learning to blog for educational purposes and it seems that there must be separated platforms depending in the object of the blog.

As educators we must also be informed of the latest trends that influence our students and eventually help us in our lesson plans (making educational experiences engaging).

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=6&hid=105&sid=b5cf993a-7fbd-4c5a-af8a-3adcb88ccdcf%40sessionmgr11

I saw a blog that was offensive by all participants involved and it was regarding a video in YouTube this could be a negative aspect of blogging. Counter balancing I have read many of the blogs posted by EMDT students and the degree of education is perceived in their writings. So it can be said that there are small problems in blogging, but can be solved by making the right choice in blogs to participate.

Some helpful information is provided at http://www.problogger.net/ for users and creators of blogs including name, quantity, frequency, length, and many other aspects that a blog contains. Among the items listed as part of blogs are the discussion of blog readers attention span, uniqueness of the contents in a blog, identification of your audience, inclusion of money making blog areas, and the most important the design of your blog.

I read that 250 words is a good size blog and that alternating with short blogs keeps blog readers interested http://www.problogger.net/archives/2006/02/18/post-length-how-long-should-a-blog-post-be/

I am satisfied with what I have learned and I will continue to practice to try making new learned activities part of my daily activities. I recall something I learned long time ago in math class and that is practice, practice, practice.

ETC Blog#7

Second Life has many things going for it and contains limitations as well. Among the most important is the opportunity given to the visitors to experiment at being not themselves, without imaginative restrictions, thus giving that way a boost to morale that many times exist in regular social routine. Another positive aspect is the variety of content available to visit, see, and hear for many areas of interest. In addition, provides a level ground for all citizens to create, built, and grow through experience in individual interests. Last but not least, educational application for younger citizens, a couple more advantages are the creation of an area reserved for teens and provision to them with an opportunity to do tasks to which their participation is limited due to gender as written by Sanchez, J. in the Library Technology Reports:

Fifty high school girls from the Austin area were

asked to design and build a project in Teen Second Life

to examine gender equity in gaming and computer science.

The girls formed teams of four and were tasked with

creating a project that addressed gender equity in games

within three and a half days. None of girls had ever used

Life before, but following a curriculum we created

for them based on my college-level course, they were able

to quickly develop building skills in order to complete

projects.

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=9&hid=101&sid=e8e9ee52-ad25-4c75-8fb2-98b56285147f%40sessionmgr11

Personally I am still learning to use SL and with practice and cooperatively experience will eventually become a user of SL and apply the knowledge in the foreign language classroom.

As I am about to start listing negative aspects of SL, I found Global Kids virtual worlds and I read the following statement from Henry Jenkins an MIT professor:

We have to think of ways to use games not just to escape reality but to re-engage with reality. And I think that is the exciting things about the kind of work you are doing at Global Kids. It is both grounded in the virtual space and the real space. You are talking about real things, that touch real people. And you are asking people to bring what they learn here back into their own communities to make a difference. That is one of the reasons why I really believe in what Global Kids is trying to accomplish.

http://www.globalkids.org/?id=30

Speaking about negative aspects in general it provides a false sense of being someone you are not, ask for donations more than anything else, not mentioning the speaking limitations that exist when in public. Regarding educational cons can be listed in no particular order: technical difficulties, time consumption, and world expectations pose as serious problems for students using SL as a class tool. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=8&hid=102&sid=dece778d-938f-4641-a915-a57008f176c7%40sessionmgr4

Like everything else in this world that has to do with technology it can only get better, more efficient, and upgraded to serve its purpose for digital natives and digital immigrants alike.

ETC Blog#6

When referring to communities of practice it is important to remember from Blog # Social Media that we are beings that are learning as members of various social groups in our communities and as such our networks are important in all aspects of our lives.

eelefever (2007, June) Social Networking in Plain English [Video File]. Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a_KF7TYKVc

Since we are in the educational studies let’s talk about relationships, between schools and communities, as they are needed for the best education possible. These relationships require some essential elements like high efficiency schools, student-centered learning environments, effective partnership teams, principal leadership and external support.

Sanders, M.G. (2006) Building School-Community Partnerships

Corwing Press Thousand Oaks California

These are traditional school-community partnership that when adding technology and Internet to tools and applications become stronger with guaranteed growth. The numerous network connections will add contacts not just in the community but will share with other communities located far away. Also, they will instantly share their findings and what has worked or not in these relationships.

Relationships between schools and communities are the base for community of practices and they make easier to organize and maintain as Wenger, E. says: “The art is to help such communities find resources and connections without overwhelming them with organizational meddling. This need for balance reflects the following paradox: No community can fully design the learning of another; but conversely no community can fully design its own learning.”

http://www.co-i-l.com/coil/knowledge-garden/cop/lss.shtml

Finally, Sanders (2006) points out that school-community relationship alone will not be effective if the support from emergent educational leaders doesn’t bring this type of social networks to the school policy makers. Moreover, will not support community of practice in any given field.

ETC Blog#5

Something that social media is doing for the oppressed in the world is to bring social justice to help the situation at hand. Editors of the Social Justice Journal state: “A strength of our journal is that most issues are thematic, developed by guest editors who are intimately involved with the topic. Over the years, we have published volumes on "globalization," on threats to global security, on violence in its many forms, on gender and ethnicity, on immigration, on civil and human rights, on social welfare and educational policy, on crime, policing, and the related punishing institutions, and on harms related to the environment. http://www.socialjusticejournal.org/

Populations around the world are in constant awareness about different situations through the use of media communications and social networks. The easiest way to understand this is by comparing it with current news dissemination and constant update, which maintain people informed disregarding their geographical location in relation to the place where the events are occurring.

The same principle occurs with other media distribution and that is educational sharing with a common benefit, (Web 2.0 applications), as shown in the video about collective intelligence. In groups there is always something that each member of the group can share with others and in turn learn from everyone else something that he/she did not know. Social media includes strengthen of professional relationships among those involved in delivery of education through the use of technology, Laura Brooks in her article Social Learning by Design: The Role of Social Media states:

“Collaboration with others” for school librarians in the 21st-century involves looking beyond our traditional teacher-collaborator role. We need to start being more active in student learning through direct collaboration with them on projects. Further, collaborating more closely with the technology coordinators in our schools would result in students benefiting from social technologies as we educate our colleagues, breaking through the outmoded perceptions that Web 2.0 tools are unsafe. We need to start working with others to change or shape policies, so our students can actually take advantage of these resources.”

http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=5&hid=105&sid=c94e597c-4fbb-40bb-8733-5c5921f1d9cc%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=aph&AN=42324901%23db=aph&AN=42324901

There are many schools that are not participating in this learning (Global) due to budget shortfall and technology needs that are required to be addressed by each school district as a necessary to learn at the same time socialize with the world and not be left behind.

ETC Blog#4

21^st century skills have been addressed as a need for students most of the time and very limited mention for the skills teachers need to educate those students. There is a need to educate new teachers and reeducate veteran teachers on new skills required to learn. This need has been identified by many experts, Reynard, R. (2008) “New technology has challenged the way in which education is delivered, but newer technologies are now challenging how people process information and what they expect to be able to do with that information. “ http://thejournal.com/Articles/2008/04/24/21st-Century-Teaching-and-Learning-Part-1.aspx?Page=1 There are also organizations that advocate for the use of specific 21^st century skills in teaching like Partners for the 21^st Century Skills http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

In order for students to correctly learn the skills needed for the 21st century education it is required that their educators be well versed in what these skills are and how to teach them using the latest technology possible. The future teacher force needs a new type of preparation in order to best serve the educational needs and meet the challenges presented by the constant changes of technology used by students. Since most digital natives are up to date with the latest hardware and software available, they also have at their disposition a large quantity of informal instruction. As educators taking part in teaching skills for the 21^st century we must do our best to help students learn to distinguish between good and bad sources of information to use while learning.

Jeffrey Gitomer in his video points out 12.5 points that could be so important to share with 11-12 grades because they are really close to start their education at a junior college or university and become independent adults. Ng, S. K. (2007) shows in her thesis a different path to lifelong learning and that is in a different culture setting (Singapore) one that mentions some factors that take place in life and influence the continuous education through life. http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdf?vid=10&hid=108&sid=81500e0f-2cd1-4d58-a867-dea8238fefc6%40sessionmgr11

My perspective on this is to create a practical routine to help current and future generations to have an organized indefinite learning through life. All life learning mentioned make reference to adults but it could have a variation in application and be dedicated to early years. The article presents a list of steps needed to learn trough life in an organized manner and can be taught since early school years. Some of these items on the list could be interpreted as common sense activities that could be learn at home like reading a book. http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/15-steps-to-cultivate-lifelong-learning.html

ETC Blog#3

Media literacy implies the knowledge to read media whichever medium is use to disseminate this media. But, there is lot more because this is not a new concept just an updated version. In nutshell, the historical revision occurred with the advent of new technologies used to create, modify, disseminate, mix, and redistribute messages. These operations allow the participants the opportunity to interact and collaborate with every single person that is willing to share and make their own interpretations about the information presented.

In order to be participant of this viral information dissemination is necessary to be knowledgeable enough to be able to enjoy the benefits of this two-way media communication. There are organizations that teach media literacy and advocate for the use and application in the classroom at all grade levels and that is the case of Center for Media Literacy (CML). CML teaches and equips educators for media literacy practical applications, their website is at http://www.medialit.org/

Since the current state of technology development has many differences with the traditional customs in educational approaches in the classrooms, It can be stated that the needs of students have changed and the learning environment as well. There have been many discussions about the skills required to be a successful learner in the 21^st century and among the leaders in this matters is Partners for the 21^st Century Skills http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/ who strongly advocate for the cause. Among the factors deemed important for students and teachers are the need for information, communication, and technology. The organizers of this entity are among the best in the industry and communication and include the department of education validating the information presented.

Perhaps, the most important factor is the interaction among each individual element in their model for the skills needed by learners in the 21^st century making collaboration and networking a must.

ETC Blog#2

Through out the videos the main idea is to change traditional methods and use a new approach to educate future generations. Personal knowledge of technology had me limited to iMovie, ComicBook, and Power Point to make available to students as technology use. Although, involved cooperative participation it did not provide the capability of asynchronous work among group members nor the option to maintain an ongoing communication.

While learning about Web 2.0 I read and article that appeared in Educause written by Bryant Alexander and he points at one important part of Web 2.0 that is social event: “Given the Web 2.0 ethos of sharing content across services, and the importance of social software, it is only logical that crossbreeds of news and social software have emerged.” http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0621.pdf

Parting from an educator standpoint about writing objectives for the classroom, Bloom’s taxonomy plays the most important part identifying what the expected behavior at the end of the lesson is going to be. Anderson and Krathwohl revisited Bloom’s taxonomy and changed nouns to action verbs and by doing so created an updated taxonomy distribution that could work with current education demands. http://www.cte.umd.edu/teaching/newsletter/2008-09/April-May/spencer_bubbles.htm

Creativity is the key option that today students need to succeed in any endeavor that in turn will get them ready for life in the 21^st century. Furthermore, when creativity is accompanied by communal contribution becomes a superb productive learning environment. Learning in a world interconnected through Web 2.0 applications in the classroom will allow students to share and communicate ideas and knowledge quickly and effectively.

My plan is to get started with a student’s blog to collect ideas on projects from students and then sort the shared ideas according to the applicability to the school’s Spanish curricular requirements. Students will then be invited to vote the top ten projects that will be part of work for the school year. Through the use of Web 2.0 tools, students cooperatively will work towards the completion of the various projects and share their work with peers, parents, and teachers.

ETC Blog#1

I just started to understand what Web 2.0 means from the reading and numerous videos that help others get the idea of this type of Internet use. Personally, I am new to the idea of uploading anything that is not a "paper for a class". Seen what we as a society can do for each other is amazing because the productivity and social interaction makes things that where complicated so much easier. My learning experience about cooperative tasks was through Google docs it was one the most transparent uses of group work when it comes to update in real time and keep track of all changes made to a document.

Searching for an interesting blog I found this one: http://www.robertheiny.com/search/label/Lesson%20Plans and the subjects are various and at different levels. The main idea is to learn from the other person through constructive critiques and guides to planning and classroom management.

Another blog that caught my eye was http://mascotroleplay.blogspot.com/ maybe because is about cultural pride. It brings the event close to those that are related to the topic that way they can choose to participate and opine. This particular blog could be great in a social studies class to have students become aware of the current event as well as historical meaning of the legacy of Native Americans.

I am making progress in the list of assignments and excited to use Web 2.0 starting with blogging and I am expecting to make use of my blog an active part of my classroom educational practices.

Continuously we hear the need for teaching for the 21^st century when our students are experiencing the technology many times without the help of the teacher. Each student that has access to technology is rapidly learning to manage all tools available and even develop practices that will enhance some skills needed in tomorrow’s professional roles.

I saw the use of Twitter in the classroom in YouTube video in Dr. Ludgate’s EMDT FSO Blog at this time I am not able to get a video viewer in this blog. (I'll learn soon), but here its the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OxIz_3o3O0

Here I am

I am posting this to get practicing something new and make this experience meaningful.

The program ask from me to do many tasks that up to now I heard about them, but now I am

completing them.