Module 6 Blog Post

The first thing I will need to do as a leader in educational technology is to research the emerging technology, take advise from others, and locate those that best meet the needs of my school. I’d present these at a school meeting along with their uses. Then I’d need to compile research and any existing data to support the emerging technology and cost analysis. I would need to have available grant proposals. There would be a need for a survey to find out the mind-set of the other staff involved. Afterwards, I’d have to secure the financial backing for the technology costs: equipment, tutorials, support documents, professional development. I’d need to post these on the shared drives of the school for school-wide access. I hold monthly “ways to use” ideas for the technology during scheduled teacher meetings, offer help, demonstrations, and suggestions as needed.
I would make the technology available to all genders, cultures, and socioeconomic backgrounds by making them accessible using the school computer lab, easy to use, and free to all. I’d try to steer clear of all sensitive issues by surveying different groups to find out their needs and requirements. Then I’d take these and adjust how to use the emerging technology as necessary. Dr. Soloway (n.d.) stated that to address the leveling of the playing field is to eliminate the digital divide by putting Internet access on cell phones. Being able to communicate with each other would allow for an acceptance through experience with others.

Reference

fita (2010). Addressing the digital divide. [webpage] Retrieved from: http://www.knpd.org/mittsfita/digitaldivide_adr.htm

Soloway, E. (n.d.). The digital divide: Leveling the playing field [vodcast] Retrieved from: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com

Thornburg, D. (2008a). An amazingly incomplete emerging technologies bibliography. Lake Barrington, IL: Thornburg Center for Space Exploration.

Thornburg, D. (2008). Evolutionary technologies. [vodcast] Retrieved from: http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com

Module 5: Increasing Returns and Red Queens

My friend, Cynthia Shelton, rented the movie Blade Runner which is based on Philip K. Dick’s book “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” and brought to my home on a planned visit the first of October. I do have NetFlix which I am crazy about because I don’t have time to browse shelves for DVDs. The current competition between DVDs and Videos on Demand (VOD) are not an example of Thornburg’s (2009) increasing returns. Thornburg describes increasing returns as “two innovations hit the market at the same time.” DVDs were out before VODs. The founder of NetFlix, Reed Hastings, saw NetFlix’s opportunity when DVDs met critical mass (Anderson, 2004), so I’d see this competition between VODs and DVDs as an example of Red Queens. Blockbusters, one of the largest chains for renting DVDs, are the clearly losing, closing, and declaring bankruptcy.

McLuhan’s tetrad with DVDs and VODs

Enhancement
DVDs for rent take time out of people’s day to go by the stores to rent them.
Netflix, a VOD, enhances watching movies by having the convenience of ordering almost instantaneous viewing of many movies and games. It also has instant replay. It also is compatible with Blue Ray and is cost effective.

Obsolescence
The VODs and DVDs have almost completely replaced the VHS for watching movies. NetFlix also can mail DVDs to your home.

Retrieval
DVDs and VODs bring back the idea of plays, theaters, the drive-in, and the movie theater.

Reversal
DVDs make it possible to pause and view movies at a later time. It has great video quality and sound compared to that of the VHS. NetFlix has these capabilities.


Reference

Anderson, C. (2004). Tech’s long tail [Vodcast]. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/

Thornburg, D. (2009). Increasing returns and red queens. Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com

Module 4 Second Life

According to Thornburg (2009), Second Life (SL) was disruptive because it did not allow for a gradual transition into the technological world. It did not evolve from other technologies, but made some obsolete which caused a loss of jobs/livelihoods. One of the ways it will effect me is the virtual classroom could possibly replace the traditional classroom. Second Life participants have the potential to view life as a simple social game and use it in inappropriate ways. Some people, such as my husband, think SL may cause students to identifying too closely with avatars. Just as some people view the older cartoons such as The Roadrunner as too violent, they see the social aspect of the virtual classroom dangerous. I don't see that this problem can't be resolved. It could allow a way to keep students safer by hiding their true identity. The roadrunner was a cartoon. Second Life's avatars are what they are - motivating replicas. Rosedale (2008) stated that SL can help with global communication skills as well as language development and provide a media that allows for students to communicate with different countries throughout the world, allowing for tolerance of other cultures and advocating diversity. I see it as having the potential to help students that have trouble communicating and as a motivational tool in the elementary classroom. It could help the homebound student feel more a part of "real" traditional classroom as well as keep bias formed by the face-to-face daily interactions with people to a minimum. I think SL has about three more years at that time it'll be replaced by the halo deck.

Reference

Rosedale, P. (2008). Second Life [Video], Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/the_inspiration_of_second_life.html

Thornburg, D. (2009). Disruptive technology. Laureate Education, Inc. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/

Module 3 Food Replicator: The Rhyme of Automatic Dispensers

Automatic dispensers have been around for a long time. They are the coffeemaker, cappuccino machine, and even the snack machines to an extent. These are not as advanced as those shown in the upcoming nano versions and were depicted as having a greater potential in television shows and cartoons. This aspect of nanotechnology has the capacity to alleviate world hunger.

In the future, I think our generation will be seen as barbaric due to our consumption of animals for food. This is not a pleasant thought for me. As I see the Romans as barbaric in their treatment of slaves and servants, I expect that I, too, will be perceived in this manner by future generations. This is a natural occurance with animals no longer being needed for food due to the replicator.

This example of a technology that represents a rhyme of history would be portrayed by the cartoon technology in the Jetsons of the 1960s and reoccurring in the 1980s. I am looking forward to the food replicator. According to Houghton (2010), the Jetsons predicted the TeleViewer (which would be the thin televisions of today), videochat (Skype), tanning bed, robot vacuum cleaner, the talking alarm clock, and automatic breakfast. Even though I don't agree that the automatic breakfast as described and rejected by Houghton (as he stated) quite meets up to the cartoon version, I do believe that the one depicted on the Jestons cartoon is in the near future.

Another futuristic show that depicts the food repication technology is Star Trek. It not only repicated food, but also "anything from a space age guitar to a cup of Earl Grey tea" (Responsible Nanotechnology, 2007 para. 1). The technology to make it a reality to the extent depicted is about twenty years away.

Nanotechnology scientists have replicated molecules. According to Wikipedia (Molecular assemblers, 2010), "molecular assemblers are possible in this limited sense." There are many examples on the internet of how advanced this technology is becoming. Kelly (2007) talked about everything becoming one world connected as "one media platform" to all people in the world. He also demostrates a rhyme in history that shows a replication of pixels to construct virtual worlds, which is an analogy of how the food replicator would reconstruct and read the molecules to replicate food.

Resource

Houghton, M. (2010). 6 current technologies the Jetsons predicted. Retrieved from http://www.techvert.com/6-current-technologies-the-jetsons-predicted/

Kelly, K. (2007, December). The next 5,000 days of the web [speech]. Speech delivered at the EG 2007 Conference, Los Angeles. Retrieved from http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html

Pheonix, C. (2003). Design of a primitive nanofactory. Journal of Evolution and Technology. Retrieved from http://jetpress.org/volume13/Nanofactory.htm

Responsible Nanotechnology. (2007). A Star Trek replicator. [blogpost] Retrieved from http://crnano.typepad.com/crnblog/2007/12/a-star-trek-rep.html

Tucker. J. A. (2002). It's a Jetson's world. Lew Rockwell [dot] com. Retrieved from http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/tucker14.html

Price, E. (n. d.). Jetson's technology. today [blogpost] Retieved from http://computers.families.com/blog/jetsons-technology-today

Wikipedia (2010, October). The Jetsons. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jetsons

Wikipedia (2010. October). Molecular assembler. Retieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molecular_assembler

Hanks’ 8848 Module 2 Blog Assignment

Enhances: What does this technology do that is new?

Smartboards are interactive whiteboards that are excellent at allowing users to organize lessons and save them as presentations that are motivational. Links allow users to place the presentations right on lesson plans for easy retrievals. Other features help keep users entertained and allows for collaborating with one another. With the now available smart tablet, there is ample range instead of confinement to a desk. Smartboards provide that can be utilized at home and completed from a laptop or desktop. Smartboards keep up with the societal demands. It is an easy installation and continually upgrades as more innovations are found.

Obsoletes: What does this technology replace?

Smartboards replace inexpensive software such as the overhead that required no computer. They did require other material such as transparencies, markers, and bulbs. The bulb continually needed replaced. Overheads were messy both with the material such as cloths to clean them as well as getting all over the users’ hands.

Retrieves: What does this technology bring to mind from the past?

A Smartboard may be thought of as a blackboard that requires no chalk, but has a marker (chalk) and eraser. The blackboard eraser gets dirty, dusty, and has to be dusted often, but the Smartboard does not. It also reminds one of the slate that was once written on by the old school classroom students.

Reverses: What might replace this technology in the future, or what might it cause to occur?

In the future, Smartboards will be replaced by holographic 3-D images. These will allow students to apply concepts into real models.

Reference

Home Smart Technology. (2010). smarttech.com

Business Data Communications. (2010). Technology trends in the classroom: The digital white board.
http://www.businessdatacom.com/Customers/Education/tabid/68/Default.aspx

infacom. (2010). Interactive whiteboards. http://www.infacom.co.uk/products/interactive_whiteboards.htm

Look below for my post! Deb :)

I responded to:

Melinda Duckett at: http://ducketmc.wordpress.com/

Robert Hopkins at: http://educ-8848emergingandfuturetech.blogspot.com/

Cynthia Shelton at: http://shelcy316.blogspot.com/

Annette Brooker-Grogan at: http://educ8848technologies.blogspot.com/

Erika Penninger at: http://penninger8848.blogspot.com/

Smartboards Rule

Smart Technology

The current technology that has emerged in the last few years that shapes learning in third grade has been the Smartboard. Our school is themed Academy of Communications and Technology and it is an important component of this technology. It replaced the overhead projector and opened many opportunities to reach student learning styles by allowing for manipulation of objects.


It could be made better by getting rid of the shadows that impede movement of the objects on the screen. To make this technology even better and avoid the pitfall of the shadows, Smart should consider the projection from the back of the screen. The Promethean Boards allow for the light to come in from behind the screen; however, the features of the Smartboard outweigh the pitfall and I still like it better than the Promethean board.



Reference

http://www.prometheanworld.com/
http://www.smartboards.com/

Video I Responded to Week 12

I had a video response on May 21st for:
Soushira Liverpoolmorris
http://eduspiration.edublogs.org/
Brandon (Brandy) Lutz
http://lutzedu.blogspot.com/

I had a video response on May 24th for:
Nadine Petrie-Waymyers
http://waymyers-distanceedu.blogspot.com/
Luis Aviles
http://farawaylearning.blogspot.com
Tabitha Edenfield
http://tabithaedenfield.blogspot.com/
Robert Hopkins
http://toehaw-nextgenerationoflearning.blogspot.com/

Responding to the Five Video Blogs and Skyping

These are the first five video blogs containing my responses and a Skype session:

I had a video response on May 15th for Karen Wondergem at http://wondergemprinciplesofdistanceed.blogspot.com/
I had a video response for Kellie Scott on May 17th at
http://kscott317.blogspot.com/

I had a video response on May 17th for:
Laurie Korte was at http://lkortecc.blogspot.com/Cynthia Skelton was at http://shelcy316.blogspot.com/
Steven Raymond was at: http://sraymond-pofde.blogspot.com/

I also had a SKYPE conference with the three mentioned above on May 20, 2010.

Using Technology to Enhance Collaboration in Elementary Education

Using Technology to Enhance Collaboration in Elementary Education (YouTube)

My video can be found at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUR9hHYK5_g

Responding to other blogs

I responded to:

Luis Aviles
Blog Link: http://farawaylearning.blogspot.com

and

Tabitha Edenfield
http://tabithaedenfield.blogspot.com/

Dynamic Strategies

Strategies for engaging students (Siemens, p. 11-19)

Decide on how the learning occurs
Change the role of the educator
Overlay new opportunities by diminishing geographic lines
Change the role(s) of the educator and instructional designer

On-line instructors must change and in order to be effective, they must move toward the dynamic way of teaching- thus reaching higher levels of thinking and creativeness. As Moller (2008, para.1) stated, “the paramount decision should be the capability of chosen technology to support knowledge building, which indicates the need for interactivity.” With this being said, the meta-analysis of McGreal’s chapter resulted in valid conclusions. I say this because I believe (Anderson , 2008, p.149) stated that internet telephony will “facilitate more fluid and natural communication between different culture groups...” I have experienced this first hand with Skype as Cyndy Shelton and I have collaborated to a great extent on the assignments and have devised ways to involve the children with virtual experiences from Hilton Head Island. I can envision this to help: (a) with the lack of funding for field trips, (b) for home bound students, and (c) for diversifying the learning experiences in every facet of education. This allowed for group interaction much like the ICQ (I see you) messaging.

Developing on-line classes would be more dynamic in proportion to the more collaboration that was planned. Isolation would be of less concern. Part, such as internet telephony would need to be synchronous, but that too could be flexible. The asynchronous part would be the individuals work on wikis and blogs and receiving constructive feedback from peers. According to my readings and experiences using technology in an online setting, media research must have components that allow collaboration. An instructor whether in a F2F classroom or on-line MUST be allowed to use and have experience with this type of technology in order to utilize these valuable resources.

According to Siemens (p.3), “Classroom walls are increasingly permeable.” I thought this was a profound statement because the first thing I thought was, “What does this mean?” I came to the realization that it meant that they may not be coming down, but the walls are able to be crossed by waves in cyberspace. They are being permeable because of the capability of collaboration using social networks, such as Facebook.

Reference:

Anderson, T. (Ed.). (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. (2nd ed.). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.

Moller, L. (2008). Static and dynamic technological tools. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Laureate Education, Inc. [unpublished paper]

Siemens, G. (2008, January). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. ITForum.

My Responses

On April 30, 2010 I responded to:

Laurie Korte
at http://lkortecc.blogspot.com/

Cynthia Skelton
at http://shelcy316.blogspot.com/

Engaging Learners with New Strategies and Tools

Reflection:
Outside the classroom it is imperative that we build content knowledge by using the course resources, such as articles, texts, vodcasts, blogs and wikis. These lead to engaging the learner in authentic collaboration with peers and the instructor, and provide a knowledge base for the problem tasks in the online environment. The technological tools and strategies help make the learning authentic, productive, and worthwhile.

Citing Kindle:
After discussing the Kindle, I found an interesting way to find page numbers. It is at Amazon books. You click on the sample book and "search inside" will appear. You then type in part of the quote that you want to cite. It will go to the page in the book, giving you the page number. Very easy-for quotes. If you are just paraphrasing, then you don't even need the page.

As of: Apr.18 and Apr. 19, 2010 I responded to the storyboard for:

Nadine Petrie-Waymyers
Blog: http://waymyers-distanceedu.blogspot.com/

and

Brandon (Brandy) Lutz’ s storyboard
Blog URL is: http://lutzedu.blogspot.com/

For Module 3 blog, I responded to:

Nadine Petrie-Waymyers
My Blog: http://waymyers-distanceedu.blogspot.com/

Karen Wondergem
Blog Link: http://wondergemprinciplesofdistanceed.blogspot.com/

Robert Hopkins
Blog Link: http://toehaw-nextgenerationoflearning.blogspot.com/

Debra Hanks

Module Three Assignments

Both the storyboard and blog for Module 3 for Moller and EDUC 8842 are posted. Please read them and give me you feedback for the storyboard here and the other blog post assignment after that blog. Thanks, Deb :)

Distance Education and Online Collaboration
According to Siemens’s vodcast “Assessment of Online Learning,” face-to-face (F2F) assessments are now basically on the knowledge level; however, it is shifting to the participatory model of assessing due to the influence of distance learning (DE). Assessment becomes more collaborative in nature as online learning becomes more prevalent. Students, community, and instructor (based on participation or projects) assess peers in online community. In this way, assessment is becoming more authentic. Assessment is teaching. This shows "fair and equitable assessment" of learning because it can show student growth, amounts of participation, and is based on authentic contexts.

George Siemens in his vodcast “Learning Communities” stated that schools in K-12 provide singular individualist model of learning in a F2F environment. Society is a learning community where people work together. Individuals need online experience with working in a system. Trust and cooperation and novel type interaction-externally, so ideas will be creative and fresh.

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005, pp.31-38) stated that it is necessary to anticipate problems, such as conflicts and technical difficulty and address them early by offering suggestions or support. The role the instructor plays is crucial; they serve as a guide, set the stage for collaboration, provide resources and links, and make sure the workload is manageable. The role the instructor plays impacts the assessment plan because they have to set the parameters for the assignments and assessment. Since the assessment would be collaborative in many instances, instructors have to participate in the discussions, encourage others to think using provocative questioning, and be open for cultural differences. If a student does not want to network or collaborate in a learning community for an online course, members of the learning community can e-mail the member by private email, call them in case of technical problems, and

Researching other blogs online, I found a blog from Indiana University (2010) that contained information on “world guidance on how to implement team-based projects, troubleshoot them, and promote their success” with a 32 page report attached to the suggested blog.

Reference

Indiana University. (2010, March 9). Student collaboration in the online classroom [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://icoblog.wordpress.com/category/collaboration/

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Siemens, G. (n.d.). Learning communities. [Vodcast], Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com

Siemens, G. (n.d.). Assessment of online learning. [Vodcast], Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com

On April 3, 2010, I responded to Module 2 posts:
Kellie Scott at http://kscott317.blogspot.com and
Steven Raymond at http://sraymond-pofde.blogspot.com
Deb :)

Collaboration in Distance Education

According to Siemens (n.d., vodcast) collaborative interaction is vital to online learning. Just as vodcasts have evolved from postage stamp size presentations with poor quality just a few years ago to the amazing quality of today’s vodcasts so has online collaboration. This helps establish a distinct educational advantage over the previous decades. In many cases distance education is superior to face-to-face (F2F) educational setting. Siemens stated several reasons. These included: a. the growing acceptance of the online environment that gives comfort established by feeling part of the group through collaboration, b. the online technology now can communicate better using conversation, c. the experience with the online medium, and d. the global dimension allowing for collaboration of groups from different areas of the world. Simonson (n.d., vodcast) says distance learning is easier, better, and more effective than F2F instruction in a lot of instances. It gives instructors and students advantages that include collaboration from almost anywhere in the world and access at almost any time. Mobile computing should reach critical mass in just a year or less according to the Horizon Report (2010). These devices, such as iPhones, can be used to advance collaboration.
Many interactive online tools are available to facilitate interactions using collaboration between students, instructors, or other students. These include Google.docs, Ning, and Skype, which are excellent tools for collaboration. According to the Horizon Report, these tools are among the up-and-coming tools reaching critical mass in society.
Instructors can take advantage of this by a. increasing the use of online format containing collaboration, b. allowing for greater collaboration from around the world, and c. increasing the use of multi-media in k-12 classrooms.

Websites for the collaborative tools include:
Google.docs can be found at http://docs.google.com/
Ning can be found at http://www.ning.com/
Skype can be found at http://www.skype.com/

Reference
Horizon Report (2010). Retrieved March 30, 2010 from http://wp.nmc.org/horizon2010/
Siemen, G. (n.d.). The future of distance education [Vodcast], Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com
Simonson, M. (n.d.). Distance education: Higher education, K12, and the corporate world [Vodcast], Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com

Comments to Posts

I commented to the following posts.

Brandon (Brandy) Lutz
My blog URL is: http://lutzedu.blogspot.com/

Cynthia Skelton
My blog will be at http://shelcy316.blogspot.com/

Robert Hopkins
http://toehaw-nextgenerationoflearning.blogspot.com/

Comparing Articles

Simonson (2000) said that distance learning has gained a foothold in the technology world as an ever-expanding technological innovation and that “This article advocates making decisions based on what is the best way to facilitate learning.” Simonson also talked about revising the delivery of distance learning process through research proven methods.
Simonson’s (n.d.) equivalency theory, suggests that learning outcomes in traditional classrooms compared to e-learning can be made equal by the approaches used in instruction and learning. To do this, instructional approaches need to be modified. This was also suggested in distance learning you cannot duplicate the classroom, but have to adjust the learning experience to meet the learning needs in distance learning. Some of the pros of distance education that Simonson discussed are: (a) time saved by not having to travel, (b) convenience, and (c) increased access to the material. His article seemed to be based from mainly the educational stand-point; whereas, Moller, L., Forshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008) was from the business perspective, applicable to education. They acknowledged the expansion of distance learning expansion in the future. They listed concern dealing with the business end of e-learning instructional design (ID) among these were: a) making sure that the product was of learning quality, b) bettering the instructional systems design (ISD) methodologies, and c) providing needed training.

My thoughts:
Both methods are a means to the same end. Both advocate changes needed in the improvement of distance learning. I believe that each of the articles need adhered to by all the schools planning to keep up with the growing needs of today’s students and the workforce.

References

Moller, L., Forshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008). The Evolution of Distance Education: Implications for Instructional Design on the Potential of the Web. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 52(3), 70-75. doi:10.1007/s11528-008-0158-5.

Simonson, M.(n.d.). Distance education: The next generation [Video podcast]. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com

Simonson, M. (2000). Making Decisions: The Use of Electronic Technology in Online Classrooms. New Directions for Teaching & Learning, (84), 29. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.