Second Life: Orientation.

The video talks about the way in which Second Life is being used in various ways. Second Life is being used for orientations and how to introduce people to Second Life. In all honesty, this video really meant nothing to me. I could enjoy using second life if i had to use it for say a Job Orientation. I mean who wouldnt want to have a make believe character and run around doing stuff in a game style atmosphere on your first day at a new job? Overall, though, i do not see myself ever using Second life. The link is: http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=446

YOu can watch it here:

Sam the Media Queen

The video talks about Sam. She is someone who is ultizing technology in almost every aspect of her life. She has a great understanding of most technology. Sam is fiften years old and actually helps college students with their computer problems relating to graphics. She uses her IPOD to read books as opposed to reading an actual book. I guess it works because she is on the honor roll. She spends alot of her time playing World of Warcraft. She also uses her video camera to do a lot of recording. The video can be found here:http://www.edutopia.org/digital-generation-profile-sam-video

You can watch it here:



I have mixed feelings about this video. I can appreciate her use of technology to do school assignments. i can even understand the use of text messaging and video camera stuff. She is a teen afterall. However, to try and praise her countless hours of playing world of warcraft as educational. I disagree. I have tried World of Warcraft and found lots of swearing, sex talk, and countless hours of violence. Im not sure Id want my fifteen year old spending that much time on a game that has that sort of subject matter. I think the downloading books on her Iphone is interesting. If it works then I am cool with it.

Paula and her love of Wikis.

This video details Paula White's incorporation of wikis into her classroom. She, at first, gives examples of Wiki'sshe has done a search for. She notes that she can find subjects related to places to collaborate notes, group collaboration sentences, and teacher practices.However, there is no place for student practices or content related to students when she searchrd available wikis.

Paula says Wikis engage students. Moreover, students want to have choice, authenticity and novel/variety then students will become engaged.
She has incorporated wikis into her fifth grade class. She has students create web pages and discussions on wikis. She claims wikis are motivating. Students want to work on wikis away from school. She then gives examples of students and how they used wiki for various reasons.
She used wikis with 3rd graders as well. She used math activites to teach her students. She used wikis to create conversations. She had students discuss presidential candidates.
She wants other teachers to use wikis and for the whole teacher community to share thoughts and ideas. The video can be found at http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=576.

You can also watch it here:



I personally, think wikis might be a good tool in educating. Allowing students the oppurtunity to engage in an activity that goes beyond pencil and paper is always a good idea. Technology is rapidly advancing and tools for education are becoming wider with less emphasis on oencil and paper. I think having children create wikis helps them to enhance creativity aspects of their learning as well as subject oriented material.

Screencast

My screencast dealt with embedding video into a blog.

Here is the link:
http://screenr.com/dfW


Here is the video

Smart Board use in Elementary Schools

smart board video placed here:

Smart Board use in Elementary Schools

smart board video placed here: