Edumodo

I’ve stumbled upon a nice little gem that educators all over might find useful.  The website www.edumodo.com is a facebook like site where educators and students can log on and connect with each other.  Teachers can create and manage virtual classrooms, give and grade assignments and establish engaging environments where students can learn.

This is a great tool for students and it continues to evolve as there is a large support community and the developers work with teachers to give them the best possible tools.  Also the ability to connect with other teachers is an amazing benefit when looking to create new ideas and collaborate.  I think this definitely something more teachers should look into and schools should investigate how to best utilize tools and sites like these.


Source:
http://www.edumodo.com

Edutainment

It is no surprise that today's youth would rather sit for hours in front of a video game then sit for 5 minutes in a class lecture. So the question has been how do you gather that enthusiasm and engagement and transfer it from one activity to another. The articles I've read have attempted to look at that problem and the possible solutions to that specific problem.
The first question appearing in theses articles seems to be who is best to design these games. To me, this is a difficult questions. I've been fortunate to have some view into to the world of educational gaming. As with anything, it's not a perfect system. Video game creation without a basis in education is far from perfect; and this is a industry without the confines of having to have a moral or lesson learned. Making educational entertainment, with it's very defined focus, can be difficult. Students are graduating with a great set of skills and understanding of education from the student side, so they generally have great insight on how to engage students, being recent students. While these students could be key components in creating these video games, i believe they would benefit from the help and guidance from experienced developers.
The second article appeared to focus on how do we get those games into the classroom? I think creating a website where these games could be housed would be a great way to go. If teachers could easily access these tools then they would be used more readily. Development and training is also a key resource to bear in mind. Many people are not comfortable with change, but it's exceedingly difficult if you are not ready to adapt to it. Kara-Soteriou taps into this reluctance and has a couple of ideas on how to overcome those barriers.
I think these articles begin to tap into a growing idea that not only ring true in education, but in daily life. The idea of turning tasks and learning into a rewarding game is a trend used in everything from shopping to paying bills. It seems only natural that game mechanics be used to develop the next iteration of curriculum. I would love to see if anyone has already began looking into incorporating games into their curriculum and the success they have had.

Sources:
Students as designers and creators of educational computer games: Who else? by Prensky
Video games for the disengaged (and not only) students, by Kara-Soteriou

Smart Notebooks

Smartboards are being installed in classrooms around the country. They are a power teaching tool that allows teachers to engage students in learning. This process of engaging students has been show to improve content retention, but sometimes learning how to utilize those tools can be a very difficult challenge on its own. I was directed to a site called Site Exchange where teachers can share lesson plans created with Smart Software. This is useful for helping teachers spark their imagination and create creative and engaging classroom time.
One of the ways Smart Technologies allow you to engage students are by using response systems where instant feedback is visible. You poll the class for information and within moments you can gauge the overall understanding of the subject matter. A teacher submitted a great example of response learning for a 4th – 6th grade Language Arts class. Using a number of questions students give answers to a variety of questions to see the level of understanding in paragraph writing.
What I like about the format is the ability to adapt this format in so many ways. It requires creativity on the part of teacher to deliver the lesson on a level that will connect the student. It can be adapted based on the equipment available and student understanding level. While there are a number of ways in which this can continue to be adapted I think it’s definitely a great starting point for teachers who are unsure how to utilize this great software.

Source:
http://exchange.smarttech.com/details.html?id=b1ee0cc2fcf7c5c62f57c69f3e63cbdc2b5b01bd4bafd27c05599949d5bcae44

OpenSource Note-Taking

This week I've been exploring Open Source software. I have always been torn about the usefulness of that kind of software. While I can understand the benefits and availability of it, I've often found open source software to be crude and unfinished. There are the few exceptions of software packages that have been refined to be very user friendly applications, but while those are shining gems they are still few and far between. Still I've always held hope when I'm looking for software to solve temporary problems and needs, someone would have refined a package enough to make it simple and usable.
With that said, I'm now going to tell you about a piece of software I found this week. KeyNote NF is a tabbed notebook application. In other words, it's a viable alternative to Microsoft's OneNote. KeyNote is a useable tree based hierarchical notes organizer which helps in note-taking.
KeyNote NF allows you the ability to create folders, to do lists, and has other options making it easy to organize and reorganize information. It has a small footprint, meaning it can be placed on a flash drive and used on any computer. The programs allows you import and export files and ignores the incompatibilities of proprietary formats.
Unfortunately, like many open-source software it's not without it's fault. I've come to realize that KeyNote is no longer supported. This means that no bugs or problems will be resolved unless you are able to fix it yourself. This means that one of the biggest issues I had, the importing of images, will not be improved anytime soon. This also means the simple, unpolished look will remain, which can be either a good or bad thing depending on your preferences.
KeyNote is a great alternative to more expensive programs, such as MS OneNote. If you're able to give up many of the polished features MS Offers, and prefer a solid simple note taking program this is definitely one worth trying. For students, the price and portability is a prime factor and the import/export ability makes it easy for sharing.

Source:
http://keynote.sourceforge.net/

PLE's

I’ll admit; I think I’m probably a little lost on the ideas of Personal Learning Environments (PLE’s). The concept is great. Create learning environments where tailored to the individual so they can learn in a way that is comfortable for them. It allows them to, not only to tackle the information they want to learn, but engage themselves in a way to see the relevancy in what they are learning. The problem is how to enable everyone to create those PLE’s. When you are in a class with 30+ students, how to ensure that you are giving them all the tools to customize PLE’s? In reading the article on Personal Learning Environments the author references the idea that you should work by using backwards design. You need to look at where you are going in order to know where you are headed and this is a very popular way of designing curriculum. You can’t just throw tools at students and expect them to create a masterpiece but guide them and allow them explore the tools you allow the, but how can you do this when your time with each student is limited?
The author also touches on the idea of PLE’s becoming “PGGE’s”, meaning that the system is designed to teach them to memorize facts and not learn and understand ideas. How do you ensure the PLE’s are not turning into those kinds of systems when you have to monitor so many students at once? I’ll admit to not having a lot of classroom experience and would love to know how teachers manage that kid of thing.
Sources:
http://andremalan.net/blog/2009/06/26/personal-learning-environments/

Smartphones In The Classrooms

I came across an article that really piqued my interest.  There is a program being put in place, called K-Nect, where they supply students with cellphones in order to engage them in the learning process.  The examples given in this article references specific Math curriculum.  Students are given the opportunity to explain the process of problem solving, which shows their mastery of the subject.  This program turns a technology that is already being inundated into society into a learning tool.  Classes as young as 5th graders are being used to test this concept in schools with a high rate of low and reduced-rate lunches and so far the effects have been positive.
There are a number of proponents to the project, stating that it’s just cell phone carriers, and suppliers attempting to inject their products into the classroom, but I see it at more as that.   Companies want to get there products into student hands in order to familiarize them with their product.  They are looking at the long term gains from investing in these projects, and I don’t think it’s a bad idea to allow companies to invest in education.  That is a revenue stream that should be tapped in order to get these technologies into classrooms, by willing suppliers. 
Parents as well as educational leaders are weary of technology and the growing effect of it on student.  They should be aware of the corporate effect on students and should be taught about media tactics, but i don't see why corporate dollars should not be used to advance the education of their future CEO's and Investors.

Source:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/140/cellphonometry.html

Wiki's In Education

Wikipedia’s are a great innovation that allows people to collaborate and gather useful information, but there are positive and negatives to using them.  It’s important you know how to utilize them properly.  I’ve always been wary about how to use Wikipedia’s properly since they are a wealth of knowledge, yet being user-editable means they risk being wildly inaccurate. 

However, with proper direction and management Wiki’s can be invaluable to an educational curriculum.  I’ve had a chance to read, not only opinions of implementing wikipedia’s in the classroom, but some actually Wikipedia pages created for educational purposes.  Being able to document and collaborate on projects help students learn skills such as team work, online etiquette and online collaboration which is necessary for their future success.   Educators need to learn to utilize and direct those Wikipedia postings so that they are successfully meeting their goals.

During my educational career I have been very careful about using wikipeida in my research.   I find that they can be a great starting point and usually site their sources for me to do my own research.    I’ve always believed in the idea that if I were to give an assignment I would allow Wikipedia as a research point, but not as the only source. 

After reading a number of articles I’ve had a number of ideas of how to utilize wiki’s that I had not thought of before.  I’m excited about how I can possibly utilize these ideas to create a winning curriculum in my own classroom.

Sources

http://mindswonderings.blogspot.com/

http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com/page/Wikis+in+the+Classroom

http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Wiki_in_a_K-12_classroom