SLoodle: Moodle and Second Life

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SLoodle: Moodle and Second Life

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Second Life In Education

Second life gives a three-dimensional look on life through the computer bridging the virtual world with reality. Through the eyes of a 7 year old, second life is “game like” immediately sparking an interest to explore and learn. I explored second life with my friend’s son and he enjoyed the travels that we took. Some of these places that visited included museums and a Mario Bros game which he played. Next our tour took us to explore sharks and underwater wild life at Aquatic Friends, even though this 7 year old does not like to swim he did enjoy second life and exploring the waters dry. We collaborated with the designer of the page and told him how we liked it. Educational second life brings the unimaginable imaginable in a controlled environment this can internet tool can very useful in all levels and areas of education as I experienced first hand with this 2^nd grader.

One site I found to give well-organized and useful information was Annotated Bibliography of Second Life at http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~mpepper/slbib#general

This page offers resources to articles on how to utilize Second Life in education, blogs course websites and sites focusing on pedagogy use in Second Life, samples of virtual communities and campuses. As I explored these links my understanding for the usefulness which Second Life offers to contribute to the 21^st century learner and classroom.

In support of learning through games, the Federation of American Scientists research suggested that games bring analytical skills, team building, and problem solving on the fly. This information was presented in an article in Edutopia, entitled “The School of Second Life: Education Online” written by Wagner James Au. The support this game environment to enter the classroom is through Second Life. Second Life enables instructors to take advantage of collaboration in large groups and inspire unless creations.

Video from http://sleducation.wikispaces.com/educationaluses

This is a video showing some of the 3D virtual worlds and gives examples of the social collaboration as well.

At the University of Toronto, healthcare program is using Web 2.0 and Second Life for its virtual world to demonstrate health procedures to patients. This new method is proving to make it easier and easing patients anxiety. An image of a mammogram is located at the top of this blog.

Many concerns are raised with using Second Life and I feel that Moodle has been able to solve this issue through controlling users.

Here is an example above.

Educational Uses for Podcasting

Did you get the notes in history? These questions can be discarded with Podcast recording of your lectures. Not to mention how teachers can benefit but also students, in using the Podcasts for presentations. Many of the students already own the tools to listen to the podcast through ipods, mp3 players and cell phone. Another advantage I see with the podcasts is that the instructor can save presentations that either the teacher has done or students to show to current students. I feel this will advance and enhance comprehension of material. In my district we are required to have a website for our class. The podcast will improve the content of the teachers pages allowing a personal feel for parents. I am hoping that the other teachers in my district join in on this adventure.

What is podcasting? A portable on demand broadcast which now can also show images and video. The Faculty Instructional Technology Center of Middle Tennessee State University wrote the article http://mtsu32.mtsu.edu:11206/ which is very helpful to understand the in and outs of podcasting. There is a detailed breakdown of how Podcasting can be utilized in education. These include professional development, online learning, walking tours, student Podcasts, and lectures.

Classroom uses of Podcasts how to integrate this web 2.0 technology into the curriculum is written by Tammy Andrew at http://teachingtechnology.suite

101.com/article.cfm/classroom_uses_of_podcasts. She looks a the endless possibilities of keeping students informed through podcasts because of how the information can be so easily updated to many different devices. She also looks at linking instruction to prerecord podcasts from news sites such as NPR. She ends her article with creating podcasts and discussing some of the hardware components needed and software.

In Wikipedia they look at how Podcasting can be utilized for mobile learning, Journalism, and tutorials. The write up gives some ideas for using podcasting as a teaching tool with grammar schools. This is where I attained the source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uses_of_podcasting

This write up was about a free podcast course. http://www.freepodcastcourse.com/educational-uses-of-podcasting/

These gives educators the chance to really take advantage of podcasting in a course. Not to mention the course is free. Podcast’s are explained to be a vital missing component to modern teaching method. In some colleges the article mentions that many professors are using podcast’s as a way of delivering reading material through voice instead of reading. In other avenues this article mentions how podcasting is opening virtual study groups. These groups are file sharing and sharing podcasts this way. This is a great way that students can compare notes quickly and at a time of their choice.

This site http://epnweb.org/ Education Podcast Network, is trying to bring all aspects of education together in one location. The site enables educators to post podcasts by subject and topic. Also enabling people to rss feed topics and shows. The podcasts are easy to find and easier to get. If you want to become a person who posts a topic, the site site has information on that too.

RSS feeds and Education

Imagine being up to date on all your favor topics, sports, news, education, friends, and more. This is an RSS feeder. It does just that, keep you feed full of the information that you crave. This will cut the amount of time you spend searching and looking for that information by sending you a direct update.

In education this Web 2.0 tool is increasing the ease for collaboration in all sorts of aspects. These include and are not limited to teacher student, teacher-parent, and student-parent.

The RSS tool does need to work with another tool, such as Google reader. Which stores your RSS feeds and gives you a one-stop browse to check your updates. In the classroom this would beneficial such as blogging or a website of that supplies RSS feed. A public school in West Michigan, Mona Shores http://www.monashores.net utilizes the RSS feeder to keep community up to date with district news.

For some of us educators setting up an RSS feed may seem difficult. This is where Will Richardson at http://weblogg-ed.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/05/RSSFAQ4.pdf

The article gives examples of step-by-step setup for an RSS feed for a classroom. He supplies additional links to social bookmarking sites, blog sites, and linking news links.

Many times RSS feeds are a good resource. They keep you updated on changes or article that interest you. At Educational Weekly, http://www.edweek.org/ew/section/feeds/index.html you are able to choose the topics that you would like to subscribe to. The site has a list of topics, blogs, and a teacher magazine. Some of the RSS feeds can be down loaded as widgets and placed on your website or blog.

When education does utilize the RSS tool it is very powerful, as I have read in my net article. This article identifies 15 successful uses for the tool, from sharing resources to class blogs to keeping informed. In looking at these feeds, it will save time for future college students and current college students to keep updated on information. Although the information in this article seems geared toward college, I can see where primary education could take advantage of these tools and suggestions being described. The address of this article is http://www.rss-specifications.com/rss-and-education.htm

To understand how RSS works, this site http://www.slideshare.net/leonardstern/rss-in-education gives a very detailed description on what it stands for and how it is utilized. The slide then breaks the information down how RSS is used in Education. As an instructor the importance is time and material comprehension. The author discusses vital importance of blogs, classroom feeds , school and community newsfeeds are practical to RSS feeds. Districts offer this information, however lack the initiative to offer RSS feeds to save time.

The U.S. Department of Education and local state government education utilize RSS feeds for districts and their staff. RSS feeds, safe time and money for the schools when inquiring information that is vital for staying current. This site is http://www.ed.gov/news/newsletters/rssnewsfeed.html.

Social Bookmarking in Education

The Internet is constantly growing and Web 2.0 tools are offering a way to maintain these sites, through social bookmarking. This enables your bookmarks to be organized in any fashion you wish. Through the web several sites offer this service, they are digg.com, Yahoo!Buzz, StumbleUpon.com, reddit.com, Technorati.com, delicious.com, and kaboodle.com. These are just a few sites that offer this service. So what does this mean for us educators? This means is that as we are preparing our instruction we can have these sites easily accessible thus making our instruction flow smoother. This is a great tool to maintain organization of your sites. This will help educators and students quickly locate and retrieve information. Also students can become members with the instructor and the links being discussed during class maybe shared. This will lead to students expanding on the lesson as they create projects or write papers.

Some problems do exist in using social bookmarking in the classroom. These problems include over bookmarking a site or sites being down.

I noticed that I found myself over bookmarking sites and saving them as different names by mistake. This could mess up your organization; it would be nice to see the site recognize the url. and let me know that it has already been saved. The links which are stored should be updated as they are used by the instructor, if not updated the material can become stale.

Instructors will need to maintain organization of the social bookmarking network. This includes keeping links pertinent to the material and that the links are working prior to instruction for a successful delivery.

http://www.sedl.org/afterschool/resources/bookmarks.html

This site describes social bookmarking and offers links to YouTube and Wikipedia. The video demonstrates how to use www.delicious.com. Where as Wikipedia’s article details the history, advantages, and disadvantages of social bookmarking sites.

http://chronicle.com/free/2009/01/10124n.htm

This article speaks about a new social bookmarking site called Brainify. Unlike delicious, Brainify geared toward higher education. This new tool will allow for bookmarking to be tailored by students, teachers and subject matter. This site has restrictions as well, only allowing those with a college email address to join. Some disagree with this approach while others agree to it.

http://www.commun-it.org/wiki/index.php/Social_bookmarking_tools

At this site the writer explains what social bookmarking is and how it works. The writer breaks down how to do it. Also the writer gives examples of social bookmarking sites such as www.delicious.com , www.CiteuLike.com, and www.zotero.org.

http://www.educationworld.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml

In this article by “Education World” they look at Social bookmarking and the effects in education. The article does look at the current “tag” or typical bookmark system on your browser. The author , Lori Jackson then discusses the advantages to using an organized method and a method that can be shared online. Before ending the article she gives samples of social bookmarking sites and research supporting her finding on social bookmarking.

http://annamaebell.wordpress.com/2008/06/04/educational-uses-of-social-bookmarks/

In this blog written by Ann Bell explains how useful the social bookmarking sites are in education. She has found that social bookmarking is increasing collaboration and information on similar topics. Students are able to archive information and teachers are able to review the bookmarks that the students are making. One site is mentioned in this blog that allows the user to choose citation of either MLA, APA, or Chicago Style this site is www.Diigo.com.

Educational Uses for Twitter

Embracing the new form of collaboration in the classroom means opening the gates to technology and what better tool to use for this then Twitter. Twitter is becoming a useful tool across the college level quickly and slowing moving into the K-12 education as well. Educators on both sides of the spectrum are seeing this social networking site as a means to broaden instruction. The college level is much more expectable with the use of twitter as a tool.

However the K-12 setting is plagued by closed minded parents who insist that it is a waste of time and do not want their children to be taught how to use these tools. Educators argue that teaching the proper use will encourage students to use the tool properly and not improperly. What parents need to see is the success of using this tool. How it is engaging the student, all of the students even the ones who normally will not speak up in class are coming out from behind the piled up books on their desk to be heard.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jessica-gross/embracing-the-twitter-cla_b_204463.html

This article written by Jessica Gross, explains the use of Twitter in the college level and the K-12 setting as well. The author gives good references to colleges successfully using the tool and samples of how it is being used. The author explains there are five reasons for teaching social media. She collected this information from an interview with Howard Rheingold from UC Berkeley's School of Communication and Stanford University who stated: 1 Developing students' literacy in our new online environment is as crucial as developing their abilities to read and write. Communication is moving toward social media. We can either help students thrive in this environment or leave them flailing 2 Many students bring their computers to class. Why not work with this trend instead of fighting or ignoring it? 3 Social media is just that: social. Students who use Twitter for class are "learning collaborative skills that are particularly important today." 4 There is only so much class time. Rheingold makes mini-lectures on video that students comment on between classes, allowing more time to engage the issues through in-class discussion. 5 Shy students who hold back in class often speak up online. "If you can extend the discussion to an online message board, you enable students who may not jump into the discussion," he said, to "make a thoughtful contribution."

http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/article/2699/a-professors-tips-for-using-twitter-in-the-classroom

An article written about how Twitter was implemented into a college course and describes the usefulness of the tweets. It begins by discussing the professors apprehension to using the tool, and moves into tell some of the successful stories in which twitter produced. The professor who tested this tool in his class feels that it expanded his courses communication and made the class feel more like a community.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OxIz_3o3O0

This is great video showing twitter in action at Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis. The students use Twitter and instant messaging to take notes and actively hold discussions. The teacher in the interview explained the site is actively engaging students in her class. This increased engagement is increasing the achievement at the school. Students enjoy the class and can relate it to the real world.

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/effective-teaching-strategies/using-twitter-to-facilitate-classroom-discussions/

This article examines how Twitter is igniting student discussion and increasing the amount of engagement the students have in their studies. A study was recorded in this article about the effectiveness of using Twitter as a discussion piece. The finds were that Twitter was best used as a small group discussion about the course work reading. In this article is a video with interviews of students and instructor.

http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/remote_access/2007/08/twitter-in-th-1.html

This article is looking at the concept of having students tweet with students outside of the school district and even miles away. The goal is to connect classrooms and on similar topics and have them discuss their experiences.

Uses for Blogging in the Classroom

Blogging as a tool in the classroom

Communication is one of the best tools that we have in education. If it is communicating to a colleague, administrator, student, or parents we as teachers have always been looking for better tools to do this with. Some of these tools are accessible via web 2.0 and are free. I can see this tool expressing the way parents and teachers stay in contact.

Here are some of the educational

The first site,

http://www.edutopia.org/best-blog-educators-2008

This is an article written by Edutopia Staff and challenges educators to begin blogging. It opens by saying many educators are not blogging. The article does not give any numeric results to how many readers are or are not blogging. However seems to suggest that many of the educators reading Edutopia are not blogging do to time and unrelated blogs. At the end of his blog he does offer a poll to test what the reader may think is the best blog. The author offers three choices Edublogs, David Warlick’s 2 Cents Worth, and Cool Cat Teacher. After you take the poll the author enables the reader a chance to post your thoughts.

The second site,

http://www.edutopia.org/student-blogging-classroom-tips

This article by Elena Aguilar touches on the effectiveness of blogs. In her article her topic is one that all of us as educators feel from year to year; this is the first day of school “the jitters” I like to call them. She decided to reach out to other educators to see how they handle it. She was amazed by the responses and decided to write an article to help other educators reach out and blog. With in the article she offers suggestions on where to go and get started.

The third site,

http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6920/6/41/

This article discussed the education which blogs deliver. The authors Inocencio Maramba and Steve Wheeler discuss how this online journaling and tools of collaborating is growing fast because of its easy access and quickness to attain information and deliver it. Enabling collaborators in a Web 2.0 environment the ability share photos, linking topics in an organized fashion and the use of mobile 3G generation phones that allow instant updates and posts

The fourth site,

http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst;jsessionid=KJzJ881ZWdYc9vQ01ztHHT7NWsS5QhJT00LZvBlJZF85JLbnp42G!1178491195!1596248468?docId=5006872677

This is the Journal Technology Horizons In Education written by Richard E. Ferdig and Kaye D. Trammell. This research looked at blogs and blogging. They discussed how blogs are written, samples of media that can be posted, and how it is arranged in chronological order. Also suggestions are made that blogging may in fact be the bridge to the digital divide. When looking at educators, the article spoke of the following advantages: learning tool, teaching tool, research tool, and social interaction.

The fifth site

http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=sR1Asxd0JcAC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=blogs+for+educators&ots=P5FyEKs2kY&sig=DVc_n-yqdfHxAckAAsE3e-nN2SE

This book is written by Will Richardson, and focuses on collaborative tools for the classroom such as blogging. In this book he looks at the advantages to the tools on the web instead of the risks that society is afraid of. When looking at blogs, the author spoke how the tools of taking information from a one to one communication and expanding it to a vast network. This will expand the learning and enable the students to examine others perspectives of a topic. He mentions the difficulties in attaining blog sites for education because of the risk factors. His solution to this was educating the students the proper way to use the tool and what to do when encountering an inappropriate site or message.