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Archive for the ‘pedagogy’ Category

VoiceThread – Group conversations around images, documents, and videos

December 12th, 2009

Very likely VoiceThread is one of the best Web 2.0 tools for classroom use to come around in awhile. Very powerful and embeddable just about everywhere. Check out this short explanation and try one yourself. Family reunion? Old family pic you wanna post and encourage some comments from others? Too much fun.

But can it improve learning? Certainly fits the constructivist paradigm. How about a self reflection on a themed unit? Or a review of best practices for tech integration for diverse learners? Listening to others think aloud can boost our own critical thinking skills.

Powerful tool with lots of potential. Worth the time and effort to become skilled therein, don’t you agree?

Posted via web from Dallas’s posterous

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Posted in Critical Thinking, Education, Social Media, Technology, pedagogy

Tags: learning tools lesson plan ideas online education pedagogy resources voice thread web2.0

Free google doc spreadsheet template for research writing #etcnau Useful to synthesize your thoughts.

December 8th, 2009

The beauty of this spreadsheet mapping tool* for writing papers is that you end up with all your major points at-a-glance and can truly synthesize your research. It also comes in handy if you have to defend your writing.

via spreadsheets.google.com

Copy and paste to your liking. Share as you like. This tool has saved me countless headaches when organizing literature reviews. Makes writing papers a breeze and revisiting them for a defense, much less stressful.

Posted via web from Dallas’s posterous

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Posted in Critical Thinking, Education, Internet, Technology, pedagogy

Tags: google docs research reporting spreadsheet synthesis map

What are Educational Technologist Leadership Competencies?

December 1st, 2009

The cool possibilities about the more than 200 real-time web 2.0 tools under development (Like Google Wave) is that sync and async are being melded together along with multi-dimensional communication tools such as voice, text, image, video, etc.

When semantic web becomes the standard (searchable text becomes recognizable object) then tagging and bookmarking values will be reduced and personal and group collections will become more useful.

Such collections will not simply consist of some items “saved” to another location, but more likely will consist of “searched” items and “pointed to” results. http://popurls.com is demonstrating the real-time value of aggregating crowd sourced and theme specific topics. Studying such real-time results can be a great source of discussion for critical thinking development.

The most important quality for Ed Tech leaders is to understand trends and adapt their craft to emerging innovations. Higher education may do students a disservice by focusing too much on tool techniques and too little on trend research.

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Posted in Critical Thinking, Education, Futurism, Internet, Media, Social Media, Sustainability, Technology, pedagogy

Tags: Critical Thinking Education future pedagogy Technology web2.0

Community is Not Superficial…

November 5th, 2009

Cooperation is working toward a common goal. Collaboration results in collateral material. However, community may or may not be present and/or result from either cooperative or collaborative efforts.

AND COMMUNITY IS THE GOAL!

Which is why teachers should be careful about assigning cooperative and collaborative work without a clear goal in mind of fostering community.

Community cannot exist without a sense of trust and belonging; a sense that each member’s contribution is valued and necessary; and the belief that what the community produces bears significant impact on MORE than the community itself.

I have pondered this phenomenon a great deal recently due to my position with iMMEDIA and have come up with our Mission statement as follows: Shaping communities of impact through professional development targeting technology integration.

My point is that unless we visionize our student groups with the why; then the “what” and the “how” remain irrelevant and dysfunction results. The assignment may get done but not community resulted and in my opinion, we have done nothing more than drive the herd to market. I find this distasteful to the uttermost.

If there is not impact, members feel like they are given busy work. If the only goal is self enlightenment, members grow tired of the monotony of self centered foci.

If we ask them to cooperate, there must be a bigger reason than the subject matter alone. If we ask them to collaborate, the resulting collateral material should impact a wider audience than the group/class itself. It may work for awhile. But eventually everyone will see through the gloss and look elsewhere to satisfy their innate need to pursue the greater good.

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Posted in Education, Futurism, Internet, Simple Living, Social Media, Sustainability, Technology, pedagogy

Tags: collaboration collateral community cooperation Education pedagogy teaching web2.0

Cyborg Learning Theory in Education…

November 2nd, 2009

Cyborg Learning Theory (CLT) explains how future generations perceive and experience their universe. CLT contextualizes a human identity that is merging with technology intrinsically; the electro-chemical human merging with the electro-mechanical innovation (think of biomedical, nano-technological developments, etc.).

Implications for teachers in the classroom, whether face-to-face (f2f) or online, are far-reaching. Educators must lead the next generation by » More: Cyborg Learning Theory in Education…

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Posted in Critical Thinking, Education, Government, Technology, pedagogy

Tags: cyborg Education future learning teaching theory

eLearn 2009 Chock Full of Useful Tools & Ideas…

October 28th, 2009

When hundreds of educators from all over the earth gather to share current research about the integration of technology in education, the results are bound to be exciting and eLearn 2009 in Vancouver, B.C. has been no exception.

Research about Web 2.0 tools, education trends, learning theory, instructional design, content development and MORE are explained and discussed in dozens of concurrent sessions held day by day during the week long gathering.

The experience confirms my own educational experience is up-to-date. The questions I bring to the table are the same questions being researched around the planet. There are no easy answers but many useful tips are shedding light on the path ahead. Here are just a few encouraging highlights…

1. The digital divide is not just about personal access to technology in a remote region. We learned of many organizations who use technology to raise support for charitable efforts. Those efforts, in turn, benefit people who may still not enjoy direct access to the technology but who receive aide from the organization nonetheless. This needs to be considered when we discuss the digital divide.

2. Gaming research is demonstrating unique possibilities for online textbook design that engages students who need to conquer levels (chapters) in order to move on. They can cooperate online and share tips with one another as they learn the game (material). The possibilities are limitless.

3. Outside forces such as economic stress, are forcing the creation of networked communities in order to accomplish mutual goals and fulfill mutual needs. The communities themselves are distilling various Web 2.0 tools in order to simplify to the lowest common denominator, a platform for collective information and action.

4. Open sourcing, open education, and open publishing are flattening access to scholarship.

5. Technology is the answer. What was the question? The question concerns Wider Access, Higher Quality, and Lower Cost. These are the drivers of current Web 2.0 applications.

Resource links:

http://aace.org/conf/elearn/

Free books: http://aupress.ca

http://publicationshare.com

http://communitiesofinquiry.com

Of course, the same questions many of us have been asking, remain. How do we motivate teachers to create network communities for professional development in light of the time barrier? Many researchers here are working on the creating of Bot Tutors to guide individuals according to the assessment of their aggregated work and present needs and future dreams. As computer processing speeds up, we will see the creation of computer generated simulations and suggestions customized to users based on such things. The future is now. We just need to get rid of the trees in order to see the forest. lol