Educational Value of Podcasts

        Podcasts or webcasts are being more widely used in elementary classrooms as an instructional tool and hands-on technology experience for students.  Podcasts are digital medial fillies (audio or video), which are stored online and can be shared.  Podcasts can be subscribed to by listeners and broadcasted around the world (Freyer, 2007)

            Westly Freyer is an advocate for using Podcasts in his elementary school in Oklahoma.  In a Podcast, discussing the benefits of technology integration he said, “Compelling reasons to think about Podcasting in your classroom are to provide a virtual window into your classroom and information for parents or others that have a connection to learners.”

            Diana Oblinger speaks of the educational impacts of Podcasts as student learning activities and assessment, titled Podcasting in the Classroom.  Oblinger said that students are motivated to create their best work when creating media projects.  She said that creating final media projects (such as Podasts) allows for unlimited integration of subjects and requires students to apply a wide range of critical thinking skills (Oblinger, 2006).  By keeping current with Podcast postings, students are additionally motivated to keep current with their learning. 

            Librarian Ester EachKrider discusses the two reasons to integrate Podcasts into the classroom.  She said, “There are two basic types of podcast use, each valid in the K–12 library (or classroom) setting: to retrieve information (accessing podcasts created by others) and to disseminate information (creating and sharing podcasts),” (EashKrieder, 2011).  By exposing students to Podcasts they are exposed to thoughts of the world.  Most importantly, students are able to share their thoughts and learning experiences.

Fryer, Westly. (2007). EdTech Talk. Podcast179:Podcasting in the ElementaryClassroom. Retrienved from:http://www.speedofcreativity.org/2007/08/13/podcast179-podcasting-in-the-elementary-   classroom-a-conversation-on-edtechtalk/

Oblinger, Diana G. (2006). EDUCAUSE. Podcasting in the Classroom. Retrieved from:             http://www.educause.edu/blog/dianao/PodcastingintheClassroomEDUCAU/1655 31

EashKreider, Ester. (2011). Information Today, Inc. Podcasting 101 for K-12 Librarians.             Retrieved from: http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/apr06/Eash.shtml

Technology Innovations in Elementary Schools

     Technology innovations have been in elementary schools for a long time. As technology progresses, our definition of innovations change. Because of this, what was once new and exciting when we were kids (TV’s, overhead projectors, typing software) is now considered stone-age to our students. Entering the educational field I must be aware of not only current technology, but also where technology is leading instruction.

     Incorporating technology into the classroom will be more beneficial to student’s learning if started with the standards. Teachers must use technology to enhance learning content—not the other way around. Technology is less effective if used just for technology’s sake (Rubenstein, 2010).

     One way innovative technology has changed classroom instruction is by using interactive whiteboards. Interactive whiteboards put the tools in kid’s hands. Teachers can present information and students can collaborate by touching the boards to solve math problems, play games, or write and edit text. Interactive whiteboards also have remote clickers, which allow students to answer questions and provide the teachers with instant assessment (Rubenstein, 2010).

     Innovative technology today is all about communicating and collaborating. Teachers can use class websites, blogs, podcasts, or twitter to communicate with parents and share the learning (Nadine, 2011). Students are also provided with a live audience for their work. When student’s work is available for a wide audience to see they are naturally motivated to produce their very best work. Digital story telling also gives students another creative outlet to express their ideas.

     Having new technology easily accessible for the students to use is critical for technology integration to produce sustainable learning. Innovative classrooms are more commonly having iPads or iTouches integrated into their classrooms. Such technological devices offer countless educational apps, which make learning fun. They also have microphones and students can record themselves reading aloud and reading along with audio books. When students are able to hear their selves read and match it to a proficient modeled reader, they are able to make gains in their reading fluency. The opportunities for iPad and iTouch integration are numerous and guaranteed to increase.

References:

Mitchell, Larry. (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYLirypK_Yo

Wimmer, Nadine. (2011). Education Nation: Technology and Innovation Enhancing Utah Education.   Retrieved from: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=17461339

Rubenstein, Grace. (2010). Edutopia. Technology Integration for Elementary Schools. Retrieved from://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-technology-integration

Bookmarked educational websites

http://delicious.com/rosie_milligan_ak1/

Boolean Searches

Instructions: Using a search engine that supports Boolean searches, try each of these special search keys.

Name: R Milligan Searching for chocolate wine

-Search Keys

-Purpose of limiter

-What did you find when you tried it? How many hits? Was this limiter effective?

AND- To only bring up sites that have both chocolate and wine (not one or the other) I found it was helpful because it did not bring up things with only one or the other. 231,000,000 hits. Very effective

OR- Brought up sites with chocolate or wine 237,000,000 hits. Effective in bringing up all sites with either chocolate or wine

NOT To only bring up sites with chocolate that do not have wine associated 525,000,000 hits. Not effective because it brought up sites with both wine and chocolate

“ “ To bring up pages that had chocolate wine stated as one item, not just pages that had one or the other. 461,000 hits. Sort of effective, but not great. First few pages were sites with chocolate wine in the title and after that it brought up random pages with both

* To bring up all pages that have chocolate wine in lower and upper case and plural and singular 680,000,000 hits. Effective because it brought up more results (not being specific choosing results)

+(plus) To only bring up sites that have both chocolate and wine (not one or the other) 233,000,000 hits. Almost the same as using AND.

-(minus) To only bring up sites with chocolate that do not have anything about wine in them 787,000,000 hits. Very effective for finding sites with chocolate, but not with wine

5 Others You’ve Found:

-Title search (chocolate wine) 233,000,000 hits. Not sure this was effective, as the results brought up sites with anything with chocolate and wine

-Chocolate wine -recipes 183,000,000 very effective as it did not bring up all the recipe sites.

-chocolate wine recipes "I love chocolate "1,080,000 hits. Effective as it limited the results

-chocolate wine "I dont want to taste the wine" 1 hit. Very, very effective because it was so limited it only brought up one hit.

-chocolate wine -food -alcohol 43,700,000 hits. Effective because it did not bring up any wine, mainly food dishes.

VoiceThread Reflection

        VoiceThread is a way to share multimedia information online. After simply uploading pictures, voice comments can be made to describe and communicate the photo. Users can also doodle on their photos to highlight significant details. VoiceThread easily lends itself to collaboration as comments can be made in multiple ways. Voice clips, text, and video (via web cam) can record comments from people that are shared the link to the VoiceThread.

      I especially enjoyed using VoiceThread because it was user friendly and required no installation of software or fees. VoiceThread allows users to upload photos from other online storage sites, such as Flickr or Facebook. After organizing a few photos from my classroom, and adding a few from my Flickr account, I was able to arrange them in a sequence for my slideshow. Next, I recorded my voice using a built in microphone in my Mac. It’s easy to edit photos once uploaded, so the editing process is simple.

      After completing my VoiceThread I found it easy to share and post it to my blog. My classmates and I were then able to collaborate by leaving comments on each other’s VoiceThreads.

In my fourth grade internship class we use VoiceThread to collaborate with our pen pals in Barrow. My students took pictures during a science field trip. Then we uploaded and arranged the photos. The students wrote sentences of what they wanted to share in their photos. Next, they added their audio clips to their photos. We sent the VoiceThread to our friends in Barrow and a few days later they had left comments on our photos.

       This experience was very exciting to my fourth grade students. Being able to share voices and photos is very personal for them. They feel they have a connection to their audience by their responses. Also important, in our photos we compare different parts of Alaska. Fourth grade students study Alaska regions and its important for the students they have a personal connection with places outside of Juneau.

       I have had two positive experiences with VoiceThread. I look forward to responding back to our friends in Barrow. I also look forward to starting a new project with the students. The only negative thing is that I have to organize and upload the photos before we comment on them. I just have to know ahead of time. I will be using VoiceThread again soon with my fourth graders. They are inspired to write and share about the place they live.

Online Collaboration

            Digital collaboration is an important part of how we communicate.  Teachers, students, parents, and administrators should be encouraged to communicate with each other through easy to use online collaboration documents.

            Google provides one of the most common, user friendly, collaboration sites.  When you sign up for a free Google email account, you have access to Google Docs, Google Calendar, and several more significant features. Google Calendar is an online-based calendar, which can be shared with countless users.  Users can create tasks, events, and important memos.  This makes scheduling available to every party.  Harborview Elementary uses Google Calendar to schedule the laptop cart between all the teachers.  The MAT program uses Google Calendar to schedule our classes, important events, travel dates, and assignment due dates.

            Google Docs is in an online-based word document, which every user can see, edit, and collaborate on at the same time.  Students can edit each other’s work.  Teachers can plan together.  My mentor teacher and I use Google Docs to do our weekly planning, keep student grading information and countless other administrative tasks.  We also use it to share information with parents and some parents who assist in our classroom can contribute to logging student information.  Using these features allows for easy access for every involved party.  Planning is simplified by the ability to collaborate from multiple locations.

            Another online collaboration tool is Elluminate. Elluminate is software provided through the university that allows online interaction.  This can be used to hold meetings or classes.  Collaborators are provided with the means to speak, listen, write, type, and see each other’s ideas through the interactive screen.

            Dropbox is an online-based site, which allows users to share information easily from laptops, desktops, and phones.  It’s a site that allows back up of all digital files.  These files can be easily shared with others and accessed at any time from any location online.

            These online collaboration sites are a brief example of the available resources for educators to communicate with each other.  Communication between students and teachers should be ongoing and constant to effectively share ideas, feedback, and the logistics of education.

References:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Leuvce3v5BM&NR=1

http://www.delicious.com/junowyatt/week-four

http://www.uasonine.alaska.edu

https://www.dropbox.com/